HR department false allegations in workplace

5 years ago

Dear Sir,
My best friend works as a medical transcriptionist in hyderabad since 5 years. Never in his career he had a remark on his conduct. Very recently he liked a girl who was his colleague for a short period of time present in his branch for her job training. She has a friend, a married lady in the same office, both of them were close and used to hang out together . There was a small party in the office, after which this married lady asked my friend to share his contact number. On asking why, she replied just casually. And he gave her his phone contact. She used to chat casually with him from then and used to meet at lunch hours (three of them, my friend, girl he liked and the married lady). One day during their lunch the lady asked my friend's opinion on their HR manager (there were lot of rumors on this guy's relationships with female employees all the time whole office is aware of it) and asked him if all the rumors about him in the office were really true. He said he wasn't sure but heard a lot in the office and left. Later she sent a message asking him to tell about the HR guy in detail. My friend here doubted why she is curious and thought that this HR guy might be somehow disturbing this lady so she wants to know. So he replied whatever he knew about him that he heard in the office. He did all this with a clear intention to make sure the lady was aware and be safe. The next day this lady took all these phone conversations to the HR guy.HR guy met my friend for three days continuously and was hesitant to talk about this with my friend. My friend doubted his behavior and came to know what the lady did. He could not understand why she did this and expressed the same to the girl he liked in the absence of the lady. He didn't even ask the lady about this, he had a concern that she is elderly and married.But he was upset for whatever happened. Few weeks later my friend personally proposed to the girl he liked and she wanted some time to decide is what she replied. Post this my friend didn't meet her frequently but after observing that she was little uncomfortable in the office, he met her and politely apologized her and asked her to forget it if she isn't interested and confirmed that will never again talk about his proposal and asked her to feel free. After a couple of days, he got a call from HR (another guy not the same HR mentioned above) to meet them. He went and to his surprise there was a written complaint by the girl on him for harassing her in the office and even at her residence. Also the complaint included that he even misbehaved with the married lady too. He explained to the HR guy that he proposed to the girl and even apologized her if she was uncomfortable with it and nothing else happened. But the HR warned him and only because of my friend's reputation from past years they were not willing to take any action. He was totally upset and left. Next day again he got a call from the HR. He went again but this time the the HR guy is the one who my friend talked about to the married lady. He now warned even threatened my friend that this complaint was enough to dismiss him and put him behind the bars. My friend was helpless and couldn't defend. On his request, Even the girl was not even present there.
Now I am writing all this because he was a nice guy, but post this issue he is totally down, depressed. The office totally turned against him. The lady and the girl both finished their training and left the city. He was forced to be guilty. He is now not stable mentally. My question is how can a HR misuse the guidelines for their own sake. If at all there is a chance, what can my Friend do so that he can be set free. Like whom should he report to?
I apologize this is very lengthy. But I want him to be normal again. Hope you understand