Molestation charges were framed against environmentalist and Former Director of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), R K Pachauri by the Saket Court, Delhi on Saturday as per reports.
Pachauri will be tried for the offences punishable under sections 354 (outraging modesty), 354 A (making physical contact, unwelcome and sexually coloured remarks) and 509 (teasing and using vulgar gesture and action) of the Indian Penal Code. Pachauri, who was present in the courtroom when the charges were framed, pleaded not guilty and claimed trial.
Requesting the court to conduct a speedy trial, Pachauri said, “I am over 78 years old. I have been subjected to four years of vicious trial. Please have a speedy trial. Media is already conducting a trial of its own. Even today the victim released a statement today to the media,”
Metropolitan Magistrate Charu Gupta, had ordered framing of charges against Pachauri last month. The charges were to be formally framed on Oct 20 i.e. today. The next hearing in the case is to be held on January 4, when the complainant will record her statement and will be cross-examined by Mr Pachauri’s lawyers.
Pachauri was accused of making sexual towards a female researcher who was working directly under him. This had led to his resignation as chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a post he had held since 2002. The female researcher had accused Pachauri of sexual harassment in February 2015. A charge sheet of over 1400 pages was filed by the Delhi Police on March 1, 2016, saying there was ‘sufficient evidence’ against Pachauri that he had sexually harassed, stalked and threatened the complainant. TERI had sent Pachauri on an indefinite leave in 2016 following which Ajay Mathur was appointed as the new director general of the research institute.
