BPO's damage control process after rape and murder

BPO's damage control process after rape and murder
New Indian Express

BANGALORE: HP GlobalSoft Ltd, one of whose employees was allegedly raped and murdered by a driver, on Saturday decided to provide security escort for all its women staff while commuting.

"Security guards would accompany all its women employees with immediate affect from their home to office and back to ensure their safety," said Amit Sircar, head of the company's delivery application services.

"We have decided to adopt some immediate measures to prevent a repeat of the tragic incident in which our employee (Pratibha Srikant) was killed by the cab driver who picked her up from her residence by impersonating the regular shift driver," Sircar told IANS.

"Hereafter, the monthly travel roster will ensure the first pick-up and the last drop will be a male employee. In the absence of male employees in the vehicle, security guards will accompany the women staff on both the directions.

"We provide a monthly roster to each employee with his or her car numbers and driver's mobile numbers. The procedure followed is for the driver to give the employee a missed call. Only then do employees board the vehicle, which have HP stickers and the drivers carry an identity card," Sircar said.

Meanwhile, Bangalore Traffic Commissioner M.N. Reddy has agreed to work with the company and arrange for background checks of all drivers and supervisors on transportation duty.

"A special hotline number has been put in place for replacement cabs, which will be manned by HP employees on 24x7 basis. This has been communicated to all women employees. They will board a replacement cab once they receive a call from this hotline number.

"Any deviation from this can be reported by an employee to an anonymous website and their identity shall be protected," Reddy said.