“Obsessed” Pachauri has “perverted mind”.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: Nobel Laureate Rajendra K Pachauri resigned as chairman of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on February 23 after police began investigating allegations that he sexually harassed a 29-year old woman employee in New Delhi.
“The IPCC needs strong leadership and dedication of time … which under the current circumstances I may be unable to provide,” Pachauri wrote in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
The Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi was able to glean excerpts from the First Information Report, filed Wednesday morning, which explicitly mentions his “obsession” and “perverted mind.”
“On many occasions, Dr. Pachauri forcibly grabbed my body, hugged me, held my hands, kissed me, and touched my body in an inappropriate manner,” the complaint informed police.
New Delhi law enforcement authorities have booked Pachauri for molestation, stalking, and sexual harassment.
Dr. 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.
The claimant is a researcher at his Delhi-based operation, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), and says the harassment began shortly after she joined the non-profit think tank in September of 2013.
The woman has given police access to hundreds of text and WhatsApp messages to support her allegations, which Pachauri vehemently denies. According to Pachauri’s legal team, his phone was hacked by a third party.
Mail Today was also able to obtain transcripts of the messages sent between Pachauri and his employee, which involve a multitude of advances and rebuffs.
On September 17, 2013, Pachauri wrote, “I never want to make you uncomfortable even if it requires curbing my own instincts.”
The woman’s response, sent the same evening, read, “Hi Dr. Pachauri, yes I do get a little embarrassed and also feel overwhelmed…”
Not long after, on October 1, she wrote Pachauri a more resolute text message that read, “…As a 21st century woman [I] deserve the right to say you kindly shouldn’t try and or just hold me close or kiss me…”
Pachauri’s immediate reply could only be constituted as emotional blackmail: “Just to prove to you how much I love you, I shall go on a fast after the cricket match tomorrow. I will break the fast only when you tell me that you believe I love you with sincerity and unfathomable depth.”
The IPCC will not fill the void left by Dr. Pachauri immediately, but will instead wait to elect a new chair at a session planned for October.
“The actions taken … will ensure that the IPCC’s mission to assess climate change continues without interruption,” said Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).