Appeal For Justice

More than ten days have passed since my journalist-husband Satish Nandgaonkar -- who used to work as the Thane-Navi Mumbai bureau chief for the Mumbai edition of “The Hindustan Times” -- died of a massive heart attack at his office on February 28,2024.I am yet to get over fully from the immense shock and agony caused by his untimely demise. It will also take me quite some time to reconcile fully with the reality that my son Ahan and I will have to live without him all our lives.

Under normal circumstances, I would not have believed that Satish could have died of a cardiac arrest. Though he would tell me that he was under stress at his office, I did not realise that the stress he was undergoing was so tremendous that it would take a heavy toll on his health resulting in his death.

After collecting my thoughts, I am making this petition to draw your kind attention to the horrendous circumstances leading to my husband suffering a heart attack on the afternoon of February 28 and breathing his last within minutes of it – before he could be rushed to the nearby Global Hospital, and seeking justice for his avoidable death.

Based on my recollection of Satish’s utterances at home during the recent weeks, my interactions with his colleagues and friends and the text messages that I have gone through in his mobile post his death, I have strong reasons to believe and I have evidence to back my contention-- that he would have been alive now, but for the extraordinary stress brought to bear on him by his superior at his work place.

After briefly dwelling upon the stressful circumstances leading to my husband’s death, I would now like to narrate below events that preceded his sudden demise.

Having worked in as many as 10 news papers during his 30-long years career in journalism, Satish was a senior hand at The Hindustan Times, where he led the Thane and Navi Mumbai bureaus – a job that entailed him to commission stories, re-do the stories filed by the stringers and upload them on the newspaper website.

Going by the insightful accounts of his ex-colleagues and friends, Satish was a team man to the core – he was a mentor, guide, friend and support to many budding journalists. He was also a tender-hearted, diligent, art-loving and a most helpful person. An introvert of sorts who concentrate on his work, Satish faced constant humiliation and harassment at his place of work.

Having sensed that all was not well at his place of work, I had asked Satish on several occasions in the past six months to quit his job at The Hindustan Times (HT). But, he was holding onto the job with a hope that things would soon improve at his work place. After his untimely death, I made it point to go through his Whatsapp chats and his emails and was horrified to note that he faced constant harassment at HT at the hands of Mumbai resident editor Meenal Baghel.

I have been told that unable to cope with the harassment they faced at the hands of Meenal Bahgel, a few journalists resigned from the newspaper. Now I hear that one person has resigned from the newspaper after Satish’s death because of her, for the same reasons that had made my husband feel humiliated.

For the past six months, Satish used to spend sleepless nights, prompting me to ask him on some occasions what was wrong. Even when we went to Kerala for a short vacation a couple of weeks ago (a trip planned to help him disconnect), he was uncomfortable. I asked him to quit. He didn’t. Now, I think, I should have put my foot down, and should have forced him to resign. At least I would have had him by my side today. And I would not have faced vacuum in my life as I am doing now.

With full responsibility, I would like to inform you that he was reeling under tremendous turmoil and agony in the past few months. I am making this statement based on the accounts of his colleagues at HT and the whatsApp messages/ mails in the HT group and the messages he exchanged with his team members and colleagues.

I have been flooded with calls and message from his colleagues at HT, giving me the blow-by-blow accounts of what transpired on the day of his death i.e., February 28, what used to happen at the editorial meetings where, I am told, Satish used to be at the receiving end of his resident editor Meenal Baghel.

Meenal Baghel has anger issues. There were a few occasions even when I had witnessed or heard Meenal shout at Satish and use foul language. She would underrate him, rubbish him and humiliate him in front of his colleagues, a thing that would affect morale of sensitive journalist like Satish.

It pains me to hear from his colleagues that at an editorial meeting held on February 28, Satish was sweating profusely in a fully air-conditioned office and seething with anger during and after the meeting, where he was badly humiliated by Ms Meenal Baghel.

Under acute stress, Satish suffered a cardiac arrest collapsed and died within a couple of hours after the February 28 meeting.

He was such a soft-spoken man, that nobody would ever believe that he could raise voice, let alone shout. But now, several people tell me how he was pushed so much that he had shouted in one of the meetings. He had broken down in front of his office. To hear his associates recount the horrors that he had faced, was being subjected to excruciating pain at a time of unbearable loss.

I have received several telephonic calls from his colleagues at HT telling me that he was taken to task by Meenal Baghel at the February 28 for the delay in filing of a story by one of his team members from Thane. Satish explained to Meenal that he had forwarded her an un-edited copy. This happened after a stringer had sent him a story with a message to forward it immediately to Meenal. The stringer told him that since the desk was continuously seeking the copy, he shouldn’t spend time in subbing it, and should instead send it directly to Meenal, who did not like her being sent an un-edited copy. Satish explained to her what all happened and thereafter apologised for the miscommunication. But she continued to target him even after his apology. It got worse on February 28th, when he came out of the meeting and told his colleagues, “I can’t handle this anymore. I will quit tomorrow.” The tomorrow never came in his life.

Days before his death, Meenal had taken away Satish’s rights to upload stories of his team members on the web site of the newspaper’s web site.

I have come to know from his colleagues that at three editorial meetings held at The Hindustan Times’ office on February 12, February 21 and February 28, Satish was given a dressing down and humiliated by Ms Meenal Baghel.

I am told that an inquiry committee had come to visit the Mumbai office on 28th February, where testimonies were recorded to understand why the attrition rate was so high at the Mumbai office of The Hindustan Times and why journalists were quitting the newspaper. Satish reportedly testified before the committee that one of the reasons for journalists quitting the newspaper were that Meenal was slave-driving and harassing the journalists in her mad pursuit of stories. At this rate, he feared he might suffer heart attack one day.

While journalism by itself is a high stress job, it should not happen that our near and dear ones who follow their passion can be humiliated, insulted and pushed to the brink in a manner it happened in the case of Satish. Like I have already said that had the working conditions at HT been good, Satish would have been alive today.

Satish left us at an early age of 52 years. Today, I am a single mother left behind to fend for my adolescent son and our ageing family members. But I am forced to wipe my tears to fight for justice to my husband. My husband was subjected to constant harassment and stress by Meenal Baghel.

If I am fighting for justice to Satish who was a most respected journalist and a friend of man, it is because I don’t want similar tragedy to befall on any other journalist. If I have approached you for justice, it is because I want closure for the untimely death of my husband caused by the constant harassment he suffered at hands of Meenal Baghel.

In view of the above, I humbly make following prayers to you:

Kindly depute a team to investigate the circumstances leading to Satish’s death. Please seek testimonies of all his colleagues who were in office on the above mentioned days, or those who worked with him.

If the inquiry committee finds anyone guilty, please take the strictest action against the person found guilty.

Please announce adequate compensation for my family.

To come out with comprehensive guidelines to put a stop harassment to journalists at the work place.

Thank you

Waiting in the hope of justice,

Anjali Ambekar

(Wife of Satish Nandgaonkar)

March 9, 2024