In February, a second former TERI employee told NDTV she was also sexually harassed by the scientist between 2003 and 2004.
Highlights
- European who worked with Pachauri says he sexually harassed her in 2008
- Pachauri, climate scientist, charged this month by police with stalking
- Woman researcher at his think tank TERI filed criminal case last year
A third woman has now alleged sexual harassment by Dr R Pachuari, world-renowned climate scientist. The identity of the woman, a foreigner who lives in Europe, is being withheld by lawyers of the researcher who has taken the 75-year-old to court.
"I was 0 per cent surprised," the European says in a
detailed statement, about hearing the news last year that Dr Pachauri was named in a criminal case of sexual harassment. The woman says she worked closely with Mr Pachauri for four months in 2008. During this time, she said, her boss would "put his hands on my waist repeated times, he would hug me longer than comfortable, kissed me on the cheek..."
The woman says he also "didn't take it very well" when she turned down his invite to spend the weekend with him at his "summer house" and told him that his behavior was inappropriate. Soon after, she says, she was granted a transfer to a different department at the non-profit TERI or The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), founded by Dr Pachauri, and that was followed by her being sacked.
In February last year, a 26-year-old employee at TERI took Dr Pachauri to court claiming that soon after she joined the non-profit think-tank in September 2013, he began harassing her via email, WhatsApp and text messaging, and persisted despite her requests that he stop. He has denied all charges.
In February, a second former TERI employee told NDTV she was also sexually harassed by the scientist between 2003 and 2004.
At the beginning of this month, the police accused him of stalking and intimidating the researcher.
After the case was registered against him last year, Dr Pachauri quit as chair of the Nobel-winning UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). An internal inquiry committee of TERI found him guilty of misconduct, yet he remains a top boss at the think tank, as executive vice-chairman, a move widely criticized by women's right activists.
Below is the full statement