File photo of climate change expert RK Pachauri
The woman who filed a sexual harassment case against climate change expert RK Pachauri has alleged that no action has been taken against him by the Energy Research Institute or TERI, the think tank that he founded.
The woman, who is a researcher with TERI, has written to its governing council, which includes corporate giants Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Naina Lal Kidwai and Deepak Parekh.
"It pains me to see that no concrete action has been taken so far, let alone the fact that my well-being was not taken into account," the woman writes.
"Dr. Pachauri going on leave cannot be counted as a 'measure' adopted by him or the organization. I too am on leave; it feels very unjust that both the victim and the perpetrator are at similarity in terms of steps taken post an official complaint of grave misconduct by the perpetrator. Why has Dr Pachauri not been served a show cause notice yet?"
Mr Parekh said, "There is an internal investigation going on. We are looking into this, and are well aware of the facts. We will hopefully have a governing council meeting in 2 to 3 weeks when we will consider the letter."
The 29-year-old complainant claims that Dr Pachauri began harassing her soon after she joined the non-profit think-tank in September 2013. She has submitted hundreds of text and WhatsApp messages that she say prove that she was sexually harassed.
Soon after a police complaint was filed, the 75-year-old environmentalist resigned from the UN's climate change panel, which was awarded the Nobel Prize under his leadership. TERI announced that he was proceeding on leave.
Responding to the woman's letter, TERI said it would take "necessary action" based on the report of an Internal Complaints Committee. "Dr Pachauri has proceeded on leave voluntarily to facilitate an unbiased and impartial enquiry," said a spokesperson, adding, "TERI as a responsible organization looks after the interest of all its employees without fear or favour."