September 6th 2020 - Jeyasre woke up like on most days, smeared in sweat and feeling flustered. Kya hua beti? asked her mother, “bura sapna dekhi?” Jeyasre nodded. But in her heart, she knew it was not a bad dream but a recollection of the everyday trauma that she had been carrying around for the last few months. Her mother wiped the sweat off her face and gave her some water. As soon as she left, Jeyasre sank into her pillow, shuddering.
A couple of months ago, Jeyasre got a job as a quality checker in Natchi Apparel Factory, one of the biggest suppliers of clothes to H&M. Jeyasre had the responsibility of feeding a family of nine and started working long hours and extra shifts. Sensing her circumstances, she quickly caught the eye of her supervisor, and it has never been the same since.
Every day the man, under some pretext or the other, brushed against Jeyasre, touched her behind, cracked lewd jokes in her presence, and one day he went as far as to grab her by the waist.
Others in the factory face such Sexual Harassment too, but Jeyasre has been her supervisor’s favourite target. Jeyasre snapped back at him several times, unable to bear this anymore, but how far can she go? What if she is sacked for making complaints and her supervisor is not punished? She needs the job.
January 5th 2021 - Jeyasre is almost 50kms away from her home, lying in a wasteland under pouring rain waiting patiently. Her eyes are cloudy. She can’t see or, for that matter, breathe either. In a couple of hours, some farmers will find her decomposing body. Till then, back in her home, an anxious family had been pacing the room for the last four days waiting to hear from their daughter, who left for the factory and never returned home.
Image credit - https://bit.ly/3oiVjD3
Jeyasre Kathiravel’s supervisor confessed to her abuse, abduction and murder under police custody. She was a repeated victim of Sexual Harassment on the factory floor. H&M faced severe backlash on social media for not implementing safeguards. The PoSH Act lays down strict laws to stop such events from happening. However, even though the PoSH Act was passed in 2013, it is hardly implemented in most workplace settings in India.
Author: Sagnik Mukherjee Editor: Sumali Nagarajan
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Source -
- https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/01/worker-at-hm-supply-factory-was-killed-after-months-of-harassment-claims-family
- https://remake.world/stories/news/garment-worker-raped-killed-at-hm-supplier-factory-in-india/
- https://caravanmagazine.in/caste/caste-impunity-and-gender-violence-behind-murder-of-dalit-garment-worker-in-tamil-nadu
