MYSORE: "My daughter was a fighter and she went down guns blazing. Even in her death, she is fighting for millions of women who are facing varied harassments but are hapless and can't go public. I hope there is some redress mechanism for them in companies," says mother of M J Soni, the 26-year-old Nokia employee, who killed herself three days ago in Bangalore after alleged harassment by her managers.
MJ Soni (Sonia) was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her flat at Vaishali Circle in Jayanagar 9th block on Friday. She left behind four letters, one each to the media and police, her parents, her elder brother, and to a colleague and well-wisher Venkat.
Sitting in her home at JP Nagar in Mysore, the mom presented a sad but resolute front. Although she broke down thrice while narrating to DNA her daughter's abrupt end, the woman, who preferred to be called `Soni's mom' said had her managers been a bit more considerate, her darling daughter would have been alive today.
"One day she called me and said she cried in the office and I was surprised at that. I asked her if she was embarrassed about it. But she said she was overcome by emotion hence nothing else mattered. She even gave an instance of Shilpa Shetty crying in open because of the racial abuse and said it was okay to cry like that," says the mother battling her tears. "She often said Teja passed rude remarks about her not getting married so far. It was cruel."
Recollecting from her daughter's account of her work in the office, Soni's mother says her daughter was put to untold mental, not always sexual harassment. Didn't Soni complain to the HR? "She did, and she was told that they would shift her in to testing team. But the company advised both of them to go on leave for five days each and come back afresh. When she did, Soni was again put in Teja's team and he just made her sit from morning till evening without assigning any work for her. After going through this hell for five days in a row, my daughter must have been wrecked. So at the end of fifth day, she hanged herself. Had she been given some work, her mind would not have even wandered over these thoughts." The mother said wiping her tears with her pallu.
