JUDGMENT :

1. This common judgment shall decide petitions bearing no. W.P.(CRL) 2802/2019 filed on behalf of the petitioner/Ashish Chauhan and W.P.(CRL) 3005/2019 filed on behalf of the petitioner/Surajit Chatterjee under Article 226 of the Constitution read with section 482 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (hereinafter referred to as “the Code”) for quashing of FIR bearing no. 594/2018 dated 01.12.2018 registered under sections 354A/506 IPC, 1860 at P.S. Vasant Kunj (North) District South-West, New Delhi along with consequential proceedings arising out of the said FIR.

2. The perusal of FIR reflects that it was got registered on account of DD No. 26B dated 01.12.2018 lodged by the respondent no.2 regarding the sexual harassment at workplace i.e. Head Office, Maruti Suzuki India Limited (MSIL) and threat to the safety and life of the respondent no.2. The respondent no.2 stated that she is a lawyer by profession and worked as a trainee at Head Office, Maruti Suzuki India Limited, Vasant Kunj till August, 2018. The respondent was sexually harassed by the petitioner/Ashish Chauhan, Archit Ashwani and Surajit Chatterjee (petitioner in W.P.(CRL) 3005/2019) of the legal team. The petitioner/Ashish Chauhan and Archit Ashwani have been involved in harassing the trainees earlier sexually as well as work related harassment but their acts have been covered up by the superior officers repeatedly without taking any action against them. The respondent no.2 raised the complaint regarding the harassment meted out to her initially with Shri Lokesh Pandey, Department Manager but no action was taken by him and thereafter, the respondent no.2 took up the matter with Ms. Manjree Choudhary, Division Head but she made clear to the respondent no.2 that the management would not take any action against their permanent employees and the respondent no.2 was asked to leave the job. The complaint of the respondent no.2 was not referred to the Sexual Harassment Committee by Mr. Pandey and Ms. Manjree rather the respondent no.2 was forced to quit job before the completion of her tenure.

2.1 The respondent no.2 discussed the issue with Mr. Brijesh Choudhary and Mr. Gaurav Kaushik of the legal team. The respondent no.2 on 31.10.2018 got a call from Ms. Manju who informed that she is handling the Sexual Harassment Committee for MSIL. The respondent no.2 also received a call from Ms. Aarti to whom the respondent no.2 narrated the entire harassment but no action was contemplated to be taken against the offenders.

2.2 The petitioner/Ashish Chauhan used to stare at respondent no. 2 in a sexually offending manner by making gestures at her and used to talk with Archit and Ashwani by using abusive language and lewd comments about dressing and physical aspects of the respondent no.2. Archit Goswami many a times also tried to touch the respondent no.2 inappropriately and held her hand without her consent and also asked the respondent no.2 to come to his house for drinking.

2.3 An unknown person on 05.11.2018 at about 05:00 pm came to the PG Hostel of the respondent no.2 and asked about her details like home address, timings, etc. but did not disclose his identity. The respondent no.2 was not present at PG Hostel at that time on that day and came to know about the visit from the owner of the PG Hostel. The respondent no.2 immediately called up Mr. U. K. Sharma, Admin Head of the Maruti who was also aware about harassment caused to the respondent no.2. On 06.11.2018, another person came posing himself as a clerk from a lawyer’s office to the house of the sister of the respondent no.2 situated at Dwarka and tried to know the details of the respondent no.2.

2.4 The respondent no.2 thereafter called up Ms. Manju and Ms. Aarti who confirmed that none from the MSIL was sent to the place of the respondent no.2. The respondent no. 2 left PG hostel on 30.11.2018 and was looking for an auto for office then one person started to chase her and stared her weirdly. The respondent no.2 appr