Court takes cognizance of harassment charges against Pachauri
14 May 2016
A Delhi court today took cognizance of charge-sheet filed against former chief of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) R K Pachauri for allegedly sexually harassing a former woman colleague.
The court said there is sufficient material to proceed against Pachauri under Sections 354-A, 354-B, 354-D, 509 and 341 of the Indian Penal Code related to sexual harassment and wrongful restraint.
The charge was filed by the Delhi police a year after the first sexual harassment case was registered against Pachauri.
Police had registered the case against him based on a criminal complaint filed by the woman in February 2015. In its charge-sheet, police had named 23 persons as prosecution witnesses, many of whom are former and present employees of TERI.
The 1,000-page charge-sheet contained annexures related to call detail records and transcripts of emails and text messages.
Since the chargesheet was filed for the first case, two more women have accused Pachauri of sexual harassment.