Sexual harassment case costs RK Pachauri IPCC meet

mangaloretoday.com/IT

New Delhi, Feb 22: Signalling that the harassment case against him is taking its toll, Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chairperson R.K. Pachauri won’t attend the committee’s plenary session next week.

The 75-year-old Nobel laureate has informed IPCC that he won’t be able to chair its plenary in Nairobi because of "issues demanding his attention" in India, a spokesperson for The Energy Research Institute (TERI) director general said.

"Dr Pachauri is committed to providing all assistance and cooperation to the authorities in their ongoing investigations," he added.

 

In another major twist in the case, Pachauri’s lawyer Pavan Duggal has returned the brief to represent him in court.

A day after Mail Today ran a full-page report detailing the charges made against the TERI chief by a 29-year-old research associate, Duggal clarified that he had returned Pachauri’s brief after reading the FIR-based report in this paper.

 

The police have booked Pachauri under the charges pertaining to molestation, stalking and sexual harassment (Sections 354, 354A and 354D of IPC). The woman, working in Pachauri’s office since September 1, 2013, has claimed that all his actions and words towards her had "underlying sexual overtones".

Pachauri, whose arrest in the harassment case has been stayed by the Delhi High Court till Monday, used to allegedly bombard the complainant with WhatsApp messages, SMS texts and emails in his attempts to serenade her.


The following conversations appear to have taken place after serious differences emerged between the two over the status of their "relationship".

In a series of WhatsApp messages to the woman at 9.50 pm on December 27, 2013, the TERI boss seems to be angry with her over perceived neglect. He says: "You know why I am truly upset. I extended my hand to you, and you thought I would infect you if you touched me. If you have no manifestation of tenderness... why waste your time talking to me?"

Seeking to calm him down, the research associate says she didn’t mean anything like that: "I thought you agreed to have a middle ground and look at the glass half full.... My intention is never to hurt you."

Trying to evoke emotions in her, Pachauri replies: "... (You) can never be wrong or lacking in any way. The fault is always mine, and it is my actions which are flawed. So just don’t bother about anything."

On the defensive, the woman pleads with him: "Ummm...I have flaws, I never said I am perfect. You know it, I cannot give you anything you seek from me.... I won’t bother you with anything." His cold reply: "Good. Let’s just forget we ever knew each other.You are now just a colleague at TERI like anyone else... I want nothing from you."

After another few messages from him, the woman says: "How hard is it to explain to you sir that I cannot give you love like a woman would to her man...". When she requests that she be "forgiven" since is unable to type any longer on her phone (December 27, 11.07 pm), he says curtly: "Who am I to forgive you? Parrots are there to amuse, not to forgive?"

Her police complaint adds that she feels "broken and scarred in body and mind" due to Pachauri’s behaviour and actions. She says she kept quiet all this while since Pachauri heads the organisation. "But now that I have refused to give in to his carnal and perverted desires, he’s threatening me that he will not give me any more work," she adds.