Third complaint: Former secretary accuses Pachauri of sexual harassment

In a statement issued through her counsel advocate Vrinda Grover, the woman alleged that she “felt extremely uncomfortable being around him”.“From the beginning, I noted a big difference in the way Pachauri behaved around me, compared to how other Indian men behaved with me. Other men kept a polite distance with limited physical contact. However, from the beginning Pachauri would put his hands on my waist repeated times, he would hug me longer than felt comfortable, kissed me on the cheek and inquired about my private life,” the woman alleged.

In the first case, the Delhi Police has filed a chargesheet before a local court. In the second case, the woman filed a criminal complaint but police are yet to record her statement.

Grover told The Indian Express that the third complainant was ready to record her statement before police in the case where Pachauri has already been chargesheeted, to strengthen the prosecution case.

“We have already communicated to the police that the woman would volunteer to record her statement. This would only strengthen their case, where they have already filed a chargesheet. After she records the statement, they can file a supplementary chargesheet in the case and proceed with the case,” said Grover.

In her statement, the woman claimed that Pachauri would call her during “non-working hours and holidays” asking her to come to his office.

“Pachauri would indulge in frivolous talk and try to get close to me. When nobody else was in office, I remember feeling very wary of the fact that we were alone in the building, so I would lie and say that a couple of friends were waiting outside,” she alleged.

She also claimed that the “tipping point came” when Pachauri allegedly asked her to join him in his “summer house outside the city for (the) weekend” and that he had “made it clear” to her that his wife was out of town.

“At this point I felt genuinely scared of what his motives for inviting me over were, and I decided to speak out and set a firm limit. I told him that he needed to behave more professionally and that I wanted us to have no other contact than during office hours,” she alleged.

“He didn’t take this very well, it became clear to me that it was not going to work. I recall him being passive aggressive about it and saying in a harsh tone that he was merely trying to make me feel welcome in India, then quickly ending the conversation and saying he was busy,” the statement added.

The woman claimed that it was after this conversation, she asked for a transfer to another department in TERI. “My request was granted but he still contacted me and asked me to come to his office a few times after that,” she claimed.

She further alleged that after she told the organisation that she did not want to work with Pachauri, he decided to end her contract. “He called me to his office one last time and told me that he decided to end my contract. I left New Delhi a few weeks after that,” she said.

“My contract, which was for a period of 1 year, was abruptly terminated after a period of just four months. When he terminated my contract, I did not think there was any point contesting it, as from my conversations with former employees at TERI, I had gotten the feeling that it would be of little use trying to face Pachauri’s sexual harassment any longer. I left New Delhi a few weeks after this and returned to Europe,” the woman added.