New Delhi: In a signal of mounting troubles for R K Pachauri, the vice-chairman of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), a former employee has levelled serious charges of sexual harassment.
The complaint, which charges Pachauri of extreme indecency against her and other women, is the second such complaint after a 29-year-old researcher made similar allegations last year. Pachauri is battling sexual harassment charges in the Delhi High Court, amid a controversy over his elevation as executive vice-chairman of Teri.
According to a five-page complaint filed by the ex-employee that emerged today, the woman approached the police to register her statement last February but didn't hear from them for over a year.
The letter lists out several detailed accounts of the harassment that she was subjected to by Pachauri. According to the victim's letter, her job description required her to occasionally interact with Pachauri. Since her interactions with Pachauri began till the time that she put in her papers, her sexual harassment only increased, she said.
“I had been sexually harassed by him and had seen him behave extremely indecently with other women at Teri too,” said a statement released by the female employee through her lawyers advocate Vrinda Grover and Ratna Appnender.
According to the complainant, Pachauri would regularly find excuses to call her to his office on some pretext or the other. The complainant further alleges that Pachauri even renamed her with a “sexually suggestive nickname” which made her extremely uncomfortable.
“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.
The complainant narrated one instance where she was called to his office by Pachauri. “I was in his office room because he had asked me to see him, he completely against my wishes forcibly held and kissed me on my face just as I was leaving the room,” she said.
“I felt demeaned as an individual, a woman and as a professional,” the statement read.
In another incident, Pachauri allegedly called her to enquire why she was on leave, Pachauri offered her a massage. “He called me on my mobile number to ask why I was not in office. When I told him that I was suffering from migraine, he said, “Hum bahut achhi champi kartein hain…aap chahein kar sakte hain (I give very good head massage…if you want I can give you a massage,)” said her statement.
The complainant goes on to detail how Pachauri, someone whom she refers to as “someone who has children elder than me”, would inquire about her personal life. “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,” she added.
The former TERI employee also alleged Pachauri of propositioning to her indirectly using a ‘lewd' manuscript. “He told me that...he would like me to read and make suggestions before he handed it to the publisher...He suggested that I could use his house/farmhouse to read in seclusion, and that he would like to join me for discussions etc. He suggested we meet after work to discuss the novel. I told him that I would not go to his house and I found such suggestions by him very disturbing and unprofessional....When I thumbed through the manuscript, I came across graphic descriptions of sex,” she said.
Reminiscent of the first complainant, she detailed how Pachauri would call her for conferences on the “pretext” of work. “Mr. R K Pachauri once told me that I needed to attend a conference with him at a hotel in New Delhi because he would like me to draft a press note or something like that. He insisted that I come to the office in the morning and travel with him in his car to the hotel instead of reaching the hotel directly. This made me suspect his intention because by that point he had already been misbehaving and acting in an overfriendly manner with sexual overtones,” she said.
