#MeToo: Tata Sons ends Suhel Seth's contract as consultant

Tata Sons has terminated brand consultant and socialite Suhel Seth's contract as consultant after he was accused of sexual misconduct by several women.

Six women including model Diandra Soares, filmmaker Natashja Rathore, and writer Ira Trivedi had raised charges of sexual misconduct against Seth.

The move comes in the backdrop of a raging #MeToo movement, which started with actor Tanushree Dutta accusing another actor Nana Patekar of harassing her during shooting of a Bollywood film in 2008.


Earlier Tata Group had said that the company was looking into the issue and would soon take a decision on the matter.

“Tata Group is committed to promoting a safe workplace for women. We have noted the recent reports regarding Mr Seth in the media. We are looking into the issue and will decide on a further course of action in this regard,” a Tata Group spokesperson had said in response to an ET query last week.

Seth worked with the public relations team of the Tata Group when the Ratan Tata-Cyrus Mistry boardroom battle broke out two years back.

Over the last one week, five women have alleged Seth, a wellknown marketing consultant, and frequent guest on TV news channels, has sexually assaulted them in the past. These include filmmaker Natashja Rathore, journalist Mandakini Gahlot, writer Ishita Yadav, and model Diandra Soares. These women have shared details of alleged sexual assault by Seth either on their Twitter handles or Facebook accounts.

Seth is chief executive of consultancy firm Counselage. The allegations against him emerged in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which has led to women across various sectors including Bollywood, advertising, journalism and corporates, calling out incidents of sexual harassment.

Seth has been associated with beverage maker Coca-Cola as a consultant, and has consulted the India arm of the Atlanta-based company on various matters, including the pesticide controversy in 2006. A Coca-Cola spokesperson said the company has a zero tolerance sexual harassment policy, without commenting on whether it will continue its relationship with Seth. "Coca-Cola has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual harassment and to answer your query specifically, Mr Seth is neither an employee nor a member of the India Advisory Board of the company."

(Inputs from PTI, Ratna Bhushan, ET)