A Delhi court on Friday ordered framing of charges against former TERI Director-General R. K. Pachauri in a molestation case filed by a former colleague. Mr. Pachauri is on bail in the case.
Metropolitan Magistrate Charu Gupta at the Saket district courts ordered framing of charges against him under Sections 354(assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354A ( sexual harassment) and 509 (uttering any word or making any gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of IPC. However, she discharged him of offences under Sections 354B, 354D, 506 (criminal intimidation) and 341 (wrongfully restraining anybody) of IPC.
Later, Ms. Gupta fixed October 20 as the date for formal framing of the charges against him.
Taking cognisance of the main charge-sheet in 2016, Metropolitan Magistrate Shivani Chauhan had said there was sufficient material to proceed against Mr. Pachauri.
The woman had filed a complaint against Mr. Pachauri in 2015
“There are several allegations against the accused that he made sexually-coloured remarks upon the complainant on several occasions, despite clear indication of disinterest and opposition from her side. He also sent inappropriate SMS texts, WhatsApp messages and e-mails to the complainant,” the Magistrate had said.
The police later filed a supplementary chargesheet in the case last year. The supplementary investigation report states that “several incoming and outgoing SMS texts, e-mails, WhatsApp messages and phone calls were exchanged between the alleged accused and the complainant.’’
The police have cited 23 persons as prosecution witnesses. Mr. Pachauri had moved a Delhi court seeking anticipatory bail immediately after the woman filed the complaint. The court had initially restrained the police from arresting him. He was later granted regular bail. His counsel had then submitted before the court that the allegations against him were false.
PTI adds...
Over 1,400-page charge sheet
Over 1,400-page charge sheet was filed by the Delhi Police on March 1, 2016, saying there was “sufficient evidence” against Mr. Pachauri that he had sexually harassed, stalked and threatened the complainant.
A supplementary charge sheet was filed in March 2017 after the police said it had retrieved several deleted emails and chats exchanged between the accused and the complainant.
The final report said the deleted WhatsApp chats, text messages, retrieved from the cell phones, computer hard disks and other devices, were “not fabricated”.
The charge sheet, which was filed a year after the former research analyst of TERI lodged the complaint, said Mr. Pachauri had committed offences under various sections of IPC.
Mr. Pachauri has denied all the allegations against him.
