Bank employee dies in Lucknow office, colleagues allege work pressure: ’She fell from chair...’

A bank executive, reportedly working for HDFC private sector bank, died after falling off her chair at work. Her colleagues cited "work pressure" as a possible reason behind her death, Lokmat Times Nagpur reported. A postmortem was reportedly conducted. Mint could not independently verify the reports.

The woman was identified as Sadaf Fatima. Accoridng to Dainik Bhaskar, she was posted as Additional Deputy Vice-President at HDFC Bank’s Vibuti Khand branch in Gomtinagar. 

The incident reportedly happened on Tuesday. Dainik Bhaskar reported that Fatima suddenly fell from the chair while working in the office. The employees immediately took her to the hospital, where the doctors declared her dead. The police sent the body to the post-mortem, the report added.

'Extremely worrying'

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav said the incident was "extremely worrying". He posted on X, "The news of the death of a female HDFC employee in Lucknow after falling from her chair in the office due to work pressure and stress is extremely worrying."

Akhilesh Yadav said, "Such news is a symbol of the current economic pressure in the country. All companies and government departments will have to think seriously about this. This is an irreparable loss of the country's human resources. Such sudden deaths bring the working conditions under question."

The SP chief slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over "failed economic policies" of the central government. He said, "The BJP government is as much responsible for such sudden deaths as the statements of BJP leaders that mentally demoralize the public."

"To overcome this problem, companies and government departments should make active and meaningful efforts for 'immediate improvement'," Yadav added.

EY India employee's death

The death of the bank employee came days after EY India came under the scanner over the death of audit executive Anna Sebastian Perayil. Anna's mother had blamed "back-breaking" workload for her daughter's death.

Anna Sebastian Perayil died on July 20 after collapsing at home. In a letter to EY India Chairman Rajiv Memami, Sebastian's mother claimed that “workload, new environment, and long hours took a toll on her physically, emotionally and mentally.” The letter went viral on social media on September 18.

The EY reacted to the death, saying, "We are taking the family’s correspondence with the utmost seriousness and humility. We place the highest importance on the well-being of all employees and will continue to find ways to improve and provide a healthy workplace for our 100,000 people across EY member firms in India."