The woman who filed a sexual harassment case against former TERI Director General R.K. Pachauri (74) has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack him from the green body to ensure that the investigation is carried out in a “free and fair” manner.
“Given the kind of influence and clout the accused enjoys, I feel very apprehensive and fear for how the investigations would unfold. I request you to take cognisance of my circumstances and of the facts so far to ensure that investigation is carried out in a fair and free manner,” she said in her letter to the Prime Minister.
On February 13, an FIR was registered against Pachauri on charges of sexual harassment levelled by a senior TERI employee. On July 23, Pachauri was removed as the DG of TERI by its governing council and replaced by Ajay Mathur, currently DG of Bureau of Energy Efficiency.
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“The decision, as conveyed in a press release to ‘replace’ R.K. Pachauri with Ajay Mathur was only an attempt to put to rest the public outcry and media pressure. It is deeply regretful that Pachauri continues to head the organisation and seems to be there to stay.
“Despite the Internal Complaints Committee indictment, it was a white wash of a press release which lauded the efforts of the DG and made no mention of the serious complaint of misconduct at the workplace nor the fact that he was found guilty in the internal inquiry of TERI. The guilty has been welcomed back to the organisation with garlands and flowers while I continue to be shunted out of the organisation,” she said in the letter.