New Delhi: An internal committee of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) has found its director general RK Pachauri guilty in a sexual harassment case.
As per reports, the three-member panel found that Pachauri had made repeated attempts at establishing a personal bond with a young woman colleague which caused her “harassment”.
The panel further said in its 32-page report that Pachauri took away work from the woman after she tried to resist.
The TERI committee has recommended disciplinary action against the accused.
While Pachauri had claimed a “mutual camaraderie” between the two parties, the committee found that the e-mails exchanged between the two went beyond 'personal space'.
The TERI director general is currently out on bail in the case. The woman research analyst has challenged the bail to Pachauri in the Delhi High Court claiming the accused was "influencing" the witnesses in the case and a "free and fair investigation" cannot be carried out if he is allowed to roam free.
The woman has alleged that there is "overwhelming evidence" that he misused the bail granted to him by the trial court on March 21.
"Even police has filed an application in the trial court along with some documents that Pachauri has violated various conditions imposed on him while he was given bail and that he also influenced witnesses. Police have even said that he was not cooperating with them," the victim's advocate told the High Court.
Following the sexual harassment complaint, Pachauri had stepped down as chairperson of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in February and proceeded on leave from TERI.
He has denied the allegations against him.
Citing several SMS texts, e-mails and WhatsApp messages as evidence, the woman accused Pachauri of sexually harassing her soon after she joined TERI in September 2013 and filed a complaint this February.
Pachauri was granted anticipatory bail on March 21 but was directed not to enter the TERI office till the investigation is complete and not to leave the country without the court's permission.
(With Agency inputs)
