Sexual harassment case: RK Pachauri claims to be innocent, says 'have faith in Indian judiciary'

New Delhi: A day after a local court here summoned environmentalist RK Pachauri, accused of sexually harassing a colleague, the former chief of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) claimed on Monday that he is innocent.

Terming the contents of the chargesheet as 'allegations leveled by complainant', Pachauri said he has full faith in Indian judiciary system.

“Court only took cognizance of ‘allegations’ in chargesheet. It's nowhere stated that there is sufficient evidence against me,” he said in a statement.

The former TERI chief further said, “Contents of charge sheet are allegations leveled by complainant & nothing has been substantiated after yearlong investigation.”

“Have complete faith in country’s justice delivery system. I have done no wrong & this fact shall be proved in court of law,” he added, as per ANI.

 

Earlier on Saturday, after taking cognisance of a chargesheet against Pachauri the apex court had said that there is enough material to proceed against him under charges dealing with stalking, words, gestures or acts intended to insult a woman's modesty.

Metropolitan Magistrate Shivani Chauhan had considered the chargesheet and said that there is sufficient material to proceed against the former TERI chief under the Indian Penal Code's sections 354A (advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures), 354B (using criminal force against a woman), 354D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 341 (wrongful restraint).

The court, however, dropped charges under section 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

The court had fixed July 11 for further hearing. It had also said that a set of copy of the chargesheet will be supplied to Pachauri at the next hearing.

Police have cited around 23 prosecution witnesses and several text messages, e-mails and WhatsApp messages exchanged between the accused and victim as evidence to support its case.

Pachauri was accused of sexually harassing a female colleague in 2015. He stepped down as chairperson of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February last year and proceeded on leave from TERI, where he was the director general.

 

In November, the woman researcher who accused him of sexual harassment quit her job at TERI, alleging she was treated badly. TERI denied the charge.

On February 8, Pachauri was appointed executive vice chairman of the organisation. Following severe criticism, on February 12, he went on indefinite leave from the organisation.