NEW DELHI:The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has found its director general Rajendra K Pachauri guilty of sexually harassing a young woman colleague.
A three-member internal committee in its enquiry report stated that when the 29-year-old woman tried to resist sexual harassment, the 74-year-old scientist retaliated by taking away her work. Surprisingly, the Internal Complaints Committee found that Pachauri made repeated attempts to build a personal relationship with the woman and that caused her “harassment”. The panel has also recommended that the complainant be paid monetary compensation for the recurring expenses required to treat her stress-related symptoms. The panel also said that the correspondence between the TERI director general and the woman told a different story as the messages exchanged between them showed that Pachauri’s behavior was “causing her discomfort”.
The woman had registered an FIR on charges of sexual harassment, stalking and criminal intimidation against Pachauri with the Delhi Police on February 18. She had submitted various text and WhatsApp messages as proof of she being harassed by Pachauri.
Last week, the Delhi High Court refused to cancel immediately the anticipatory bail granted by a trial court to Pachauri. The matter has been posted for July 16 after the counsel for Pachauri sought more time to file response to the application move by the woman, who has alleged that “free and fair investigation” cannot be carried out if Pachauri is “allowed to roam around freely”. The complainant had moved the HC seeking cancellation of the anticipatory bail granted to Pachauri by the trial court in the case.
