Mitali Srivastava Hough, ex-managing partner, Utopeia, has issued a response to the public statement made by the agency.
The response comes after a public statement was made by the agency which was signed by Banerjee, Krishnaraj Bhat and Krishna Padhye, Utopeia's three remaining managing partners.
It reads:
The public statement issued by Utopeia is the proof that validates my letter of resignation and public statement. My competence and character has only come under attack after my last confrontation in January this year after I forced my co-founder to apologize to the victim who officially complained about sexual harassment. There has been a systematic attempt to discredit me, humiliate me and malign my name.
The narrative of the sexual misconduct is now being deliberately distracted by creating a narrative of partner rivalry. An old, well-used trick. but that is the real tragedy.
The attempt is yet again to shift the focus from 4 women who have made allegations against him by colouring this whole tragic affair as some sort of conspiracy by me because I have been calling him out internally for years now and chose to take a strong stand against him recently when #MeToo posts emerged.
There is proof of his serial predatory behaviour and in our last meeting, all managing partners agreed that he needs to step down from his role. It wasn't just my recommendation or Sean's as its being made out to be now. He rejected that proposal and therefore I decided to resign because for Utopeia while there are no legal liabilities, there is a moral one to at least conduct an investigation on the allegations. This was chosen to be totally ignored by all.
There is enough proof of his harassment towards me and also how his wife failed to conduct a proper investigation before giving him a clean chit. In light of this, I proposed that his wife must be asked to leave which was rejected by the partners. No amount of public statement and threats can take away the truth about him and about the complicit nature of his teams and partners who are working hard to protect and defend a predator. I would be pursuing legal recourse because the truth is on my side and I am not willing to give up this fight for justice.
- Mitali Srivastava Hough
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