[tjacob]

Owner of Mukesh Hyundai, Rishabh Himatsingka has been arrested by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, Amitabh Basumatary. He was picked up from Dichang Resort in Sonapur on Sunday and was charged for assaulting one of his employees.Himatsingka allegedly assaulted Kamal Das at the Mukesh Hyundai showroom in Ganeshguri on July 5, 2018. Das was seen holding his ears while all other employees of the showroom were seen cutting a cake and celebrating.

The photo below went viral on social media. Himatsingka also dragged Das by his shirt and ordered him to kneel down in front of the other employees causing him much distress and humiliation. Das’ crime for such treatment was that he failed to maintain the stock register.


Even as Himatshingka has been arrested and subjected to 14 days judicial custody, two cases have been lodged against him under sections 504 – Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, 342 – Punishment for wrongful confinement, 325 – Punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt and 500 – Punishment for defamation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Following this arrest, Nitin Himatsingka, the younger brother of Rishabh Himatsingka has tendered an apology on behalf of his brother for causing humiliation to his employee. Nitin has stated that the family is sorry for such treatment metted out to the employee and has apologized on behalf of his brother.

Nitin also announced a salary increment and promotion to the victim and stated that no action will be taken against any of the other employees who were agitating on his behalf.

[Source - Rushlane]

[GTO]

Well done! And the sections they have applied are also strong. He can easily be convicted. IMHO, his arrest & the family's public apology (link) sends out a message loud & clear - do NOT ill treat your colleagues or employees. I'm personally very happy that Rishabh Himatsingka had to cool his heels behind bars. Just because people work for you doesn't mean you treat them like animals. Moron.

[arvind71181]

If you don't like his work, fire him. Why resort to all this? Probably "I am the boss" attitude. Pathetic

[n_aditya]

Originally Posted by arvind71181

If you don't like his work, fire him. Why resort to all this? Probably "I am the boss" attitude. Pathetic

I respectfully disagree. Liking someone's work is very subjective. If someone failed to meet the prescribed standards of work, find out why. Investigate and implement controls to avoid quality issues. If it is a person issue, coach the person. If a person makes a mistake and the environment does not allow for learning but instead causes fear, mistakes are bound to happen. I can write a lot more with evidences from research but I'm going OT.

That said, glad that the owner of the showroom is going to pay for manhandling his employee.

[arvind71181]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

I respectfully disagree. Liking someone's work is very subjective. If someone failed to meet the prescribed standards of work, find out why. Investigate and implement controls to avoid quality issues. If it is a person issue, coach the person. If a person makes a mistake and the environment does not allow for learning but instead causes fear, mistakes are bound to happen. I can write a lot more with evidences from research but I'm going OT.

That said, glad that the owner of the showroom is going to pay for manhandling his employee.

I agree. What I meant was, if he had to satisfy his ego, then firing the guy was a better way to do it than manhandling him. Whether the firing is justified or not, is another topic altogether

[sudev]

Employee are not vassals and that mentality has to be uprooted.

However IMHO the section charged are incorrect and hence the case will actually get thrown out...many a times police is know to do this to help the guilty.

504 – Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace : What peace? Its not in public place but a private office.
342 – Punishment for wrongful confinement : Is there confinement by way of tieing him up or???
325 – Punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt : Grievious hurt?
500 – Punishment for defamation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) : No defamation unless the viral video was circulated by perpetrator to cause defamation.

Much better to book him under labour laws and some what better sections.

[su1978]

I am sorry to say this but we indians are the worst businessmen and the culture that most of the businessmen breed in their organizations is the typical "lalaji ki dukaan" culture. Even the big business houses breed a similar type of culture within the closed doors of the organization. Every employee is supposed to treat the owner/manager as a god and many time i have heard that the employees are also expected to touch the feet of the owner/manager in the morning when he steps inside the office premises. Those who do not fall in line are forced to leave .

Since the incidence has come to light hence we know about this. But what about others. There are instances of regional sales managers throwing shoes at employees and since he ducked, he was saved but there was another employee who was passing by and the shoe hit him. There is another such incidence where the fully drunk national sales manager calls up regional sales persons middle of night and starts hurling abuses. Both the above instances were narrated by the effected employees. These pertain to one of the most reputed companies in India- HCL Infosystems Ltd.

The basic reason why these go unreported is because the effected employees fear job loss and hence the loss of livelihood. And even if the employees go to HR, the HR sidelines with the senior management and the whistle-blower is shown the door in 99% of the cases. In india, HR is just a glamour department doing nothing. They hire & fire persons who are recommended by the department. There are no stay-on interviews. Even if such an interview or program exists, it is basically to weed out candidates who are feeling unsatisfied or to decide which employee needs to be given lesser/no increments and who is to be fired. Organizations asks employees to take such surveys in the middle of year and before taking the survey, it is declared that the survey is anonymous. But in reality, an employee is supposed to logon to the survey website using his organization user name and passwords. Once he does so, all his credentials are captured and the survey that he has taken is calculated and the results made public to the manager. The emphasis in India is not to breed capability but to breed sycophancy. The best boot-licker makes it to the top. Am sure that we have members on this forum will agree with me. And there would be ones who would feel offended. But the trust remains as it is.

[theapollohelios]

Originally Posted by sudev

504 – Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace : What peace? Its not in public place but a private office.
342 – Punishment for wrongful confinement : Is there confinement by way of tieing him up or???
325 – Punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt : Grievious hurt?
500 – Punishment for defamation under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) : No defamation unless the viral video was circulated by perpetrator to cause defamation.
Much better to book him under labour laws and some what better sections.

Hello Sir, though I'm no lawyer, I respectfully disagree with your justifications.
504: If a higher official suddenly picks out an employee for whatever reason and loudly abuses him in front of the entire team, there is a breach of peace. Everyone is distracted from the work and someone might have to intervene and make sure the issue doesn't get out of hand. Peace is required everywhere, even at home.
342: Judging from only the picture it looks like he was asked to squat in a corner as a punishment. When a teacher punishes the student, or a parent punishes his child for whatever reason, we call it confinement (either to a room or to a corner while facing the wall)
325 - Could be psychologically hurt, not sure
500 - Even if there is no viral video or photo, such an incident would spread like wildfire through gossip. Sometimes things like this can even affect the person's child in school where he might have to face bullying.

Again, I would like to reiterate that I'm no lawyer and am only trying to express the flaws I found in a member's justifications.

[su1978]

Originally Posted by n_aditya

I respectfully disagree. Liking someone's work is very subjective. If someone failed to meet the prescribed standards of work, find out why. Investigate and implement controls to avoid quality issues. If it is a person issue, coach the person. If a person makes a mistake and the environment does not allow for learning but instead causes fear, mistakes are bound to happen. I can write a lot more with evidences from research but I'm going OT.

That said, glad that the owner of the showroom is going to pay for manhandling his employee.

You are right Mate. But what u are mentioning is very typical of Japanese culture. They have this system where they train employees for capability enhancement. If someone is unable to perform, proper training areas are identified and the person is trained. He is given at least 5-6 chances till he starts performing. If he still does not perform, he is moved to some other work area/department where he would start performing. This is done till the time the employee himself either starts performing or quits on his own.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by su1978

In india, HR is just a glamour department doing nothing. They hire & fire persons who are recommended by the department.... The emphasis in India is not to breed capability but to breed sycophancy. The best boot-licker makes it to the top. Am sure that we have members on this forum will agree with me. And there would be ones who would feel offended. But the trust remains as it is.

Wow. I always thought I would be the last person to speak up for an HR department. But some of the statements seem harsh or excessive. I have also seen cases where senior management is taken to task for HR violations and are asked to move out. Such cases are more public in nature. In my opinion, the number of HR violations are more at lower levels as there are less people at higher levels who may anyway be more aware of consequences or loopholes. For such issues at higher levels, to protect the image of the organisation and people, vague messages could be given out when action is taken against them. At the end of the day, HR is a support department so will function as a support to the management. Of course, they take care of rules and regulations, but the primary objective seems to be more about compliance than employee welfare.

Sycophancy exists because it is encouraged by those whose boots are licked. It exists everywhere, not only in HR.

This is going way offtopic though.

[Samurai]

This is one of the case where a lala company has gone overboard. This culture of master-serf exists in lot of companies in India. Unless the founders work hard to cultivate a professional culture, the lala culture is the default. The corporate culture always flows from the top.

I have dealt with such corporate customers, where it is very frustrating to deal with middle level managers. They only have responsibilities and no power. All power is concentrated at the top, and the people below are scared to take any action that may be construed as stepping over the line. Honest and efficient people have a hard time at such companies.

[su1978]

Originally Posted by selfdrive

Wow. I always thought I would be the last person to speak up for an HR department. But some of the statements seem harsh or excessive. I have also seen cases where senior management is taken to task for HR violations and are asked to move out. Such cases are more public in nature. In my opinion, the number of HR violations are more at lower levels as there are less people at higher levels who may anyway be more aware of consequences or loopholes. For such issues at higher levels, to protect the image of the organisation and people, vague messages could be given out when action is taken against them. At the end of the day, HR is a support department so will function as a support to the management. Of course, they take care of rules and regulations, but the primary objective seems to be more about compliance than employee welfare.

Sycophancy exists because it is encouraged by those whose boots are licked. It exists everywhere, not only in HR.

This is going way offtopic though.

Sure mate. Employee welfare and compliance can also go hand in hand. Giving importance to Employee welfare does not mean demeaning compliance in any which way. But any thoughts on why HR is always biased towards top management who use compliance as a tool to take action against an erring employee. Let us not shrug off the above analogy by terming it as off topic. Has HR ever tried going into the root cause analysis of any problem? I am sure not. This is due to the fact that HR does not have any mechanism or knowhow to get to the root cause of any problem. If we go deeper, we will realize that HR always lacks experienced people in their teams. Instead of employing people from different departments to cater to the hiring requirements, they depend only on feedback and hire candidates from fancy business schools and from HR of other firms.

In the mentioned scenario, the stores person is being punished. Being a supply chain professional with 18+ years of experience, i can give 100 different reason for shortage of stocks. And i bet nobody can deny any one single reason. If the stocks have gone short, the HR/departmental head should have taken measures to analyse the talent shortfall here. But punishing a middle aged employee in front of the entire staff celebrating a birthday party calls for a total murdering of self-esteem of the employee. He will never be able to face himself, let alone other employees. Guwahati is a very small city. And if this story reaches his home, what face does he show to his children or wife. There would no other option left other than committing suicide.

Also, in the case of one of the most reputed companies of India, do you think that HR would not have known about the scenario of shoe being hurled at another employee of the company. But the HR team will never have the guts to take action against such employees.

Let me give a situation. Try being very very professional with boss. If he is based at same location, just be very formal. Do not laugh at his jokes where there is no laughing required. Only talk wherever it is required. Do this for another month or so. Am sure that 99% of bosses would get irritated. Keep on behaving the same way for another month and am sure that the employee will invite a one-to-one session with the boss. In-fact, we humans have an inherent desire to be appreciated. And denial in any form is not-acceptable. Especially to those who hold a position of power.

[selfdrive]

Originally Posted by su1978

Sure mate. Employee welfare and compliance can also go hand in hand. Giving importance to Employee welfare does not mean demeaning compliance in any which way. But any thoughts on why HR is always biased towards top management who use compliance as a tool to take action against an erring employee. Let us not shrug off the above analogy by terming it as off topic.

As I said earlier, I would be the last person to defend any antics of HR. I have seen enough for me to to ask how they even justify their pay packets. That again is another story. The reason I mention it is offtopic is because I see very few chances of there being a HR department or even a person in such a 'Lala' company.

There is no question that such behaviour of reprimanding and humiliating anyone in public is completely unacceptable. Do you think many of these dealers even bother about compliance? Their only target is to make money by trading. Anything else whether it is employees or customers or even legislation is completely incidental. They consider themselves as kings of their fiefdom and like to run their monarchy in anarchy. Your other topic of HR impact in corporate organisations is a complete Pandora's box in itself.

Disclaimer in case it was not clear: I am in no way associated with HR myself (lest someone assumes that)