Manager jailed for three months for molesting three secretaries

Dubai: A company manager has been jailed for molesting three secretaries who claimed that he asked them to "befriend him to get a promotion and increments".

The Dubai Court of First Instance sentenced the 44-year-old Indian manager to three months in jail followed by deportation.

The Public Prosecution charged the accused, identified as S.I., with molesting a Pakistani secretary, Filipina R.J., 27, and her compatriot R.M. 26.

He strongly denied molesting the secretaries and claimed that their allegations were baseless and malicious.

The court also referred the civil compensation claim, lodged by the victims, to the Dubai Civil Court.

"If you want to get a raise and promoted you have to be my girlfriend," the Pakistani victim, E.T., 26, recounted what the suspect told her in a statement to the Public Prosecution.

"I told him I'm a Muslim and cannot be his girlfriend. He called me a second time to his office and asked me to become his girlfriend.

"He molested me before I stormed out of the office and reported him to the general manager," testified E.T.

R.J. claimed: "He invited me to what he called a company get-together party and when none of the employees attended the party, we dined alone. He blackmailed and threatened to dismiss me after falsely accusing me of forgery before molesting me at the company on a Friday afternoon."

R.M. said he used to send her suggestive messages over her cell phone and touch her hair. "He postponed my annual leave until I went to his office where he molested me," she alleged.

The verdict is subject to appeal.