Police refused to cooperate with complaint, says alleged victim.
By Sreekanth A Nair
Two days after Nobel laureate RK Pachauri was appointed as the Executive Vice President of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), another former woman employee of the organization has made allegations of sexual harassment against the scientist.
The woman, who quit her job in TERI in 2003 following the alleged sexual harassment, also alleged that she has witnessed him harassing another employee. She also said that the police didn’t take any action on the complaint filed by her last February against him.
She has released a five-page statement explaining her ordeal during the one-year period she worked with TERI.
“Soon after I joined TERI and began interacting with Mr RK Pachauri, he had renamed me with a sexually suggestive nickname “xxxx”. He said that this was a derivative of my official name and suited me far better. I recall that he said things like xxxx is sweet, and also how attractive flowers attract bees etc,” she said.
She said that Pachauri used to call her to his room and ask obscene questions. She has detailed several instances where he used indecent language.
“On several occasions, Mr RK Pachauri would ask me intrusive questions about my personal life, about when my husband was going to be out of town, and how I spent my weekends. He would pass comments about the clothes I was wearing, asking me whether my husband gave me a particular dress etc. He made constant attempts to meet me socially outside the office,” the statement said.
She has also explained one shocking incident when he kissed her forcibly at the office which left her shocked and upset. Not being able to sustain the harassment, the woman quit her job after one year of joining TERI.
Pachauri also threatened her when she had decided to resign.
“When Pachauri saw my resignation letter, he threatened that from the airport to the city I was going to, he had friends everywhere and that he would see how I would leave his employment,” she said.
She has filed a complaint with Delhi police through her lawyer Vrinda Grover.
Saying that she got courage from the 29-year-old woman who filed a complaint against him, she alleged that the police refused to co-operate with her.
“Ever since the FIR against Pachauri came to light, I have been stating that I have also been sexually harassed by Pachauri, but all the efforts to have my statement recorded have been obstructed by police,” she alleged.
DCP South Prem Nath has denied her claims and said that it was she who refused to provide details.
“We told the lawyer (Grover) that the police will thoroughly examine the complaint and register a case and that the women who have faced similar sexual harassment at TERI should come and give their statement but she refused to divulge any details about the victim… Who will the police take action against if the complainant is not coming forward to give a complaint?” Prem Nath told The Hindustan Times.
On Tuesday, the woman on whose complaint of sexual harassment Pachauri is facing legal action, had released an open letter slamming the decision of TERI governing council to appoint him as the Executive Vice President of the institute with executive powers.
“Shamelessness abounds! The news of promotion of a man who stands booked on charges of sexual harassment at workplace, stalking and criminal intimidation by country’s who’s who makes my flesh crawl,” she said in her letter.
Pachauri, 74, is one of the world’s foremost officials on the subject of climate change, even winning a joint Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice-president Al Gore in 2007 for their part in galvanizing international action over the issue.
Following the allegations, he also had resigned as chairman of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).