A third woman has made a public statement accusing RK Pachauri of having sexually harassed her while she was working at Teri, aged 19, in 2008, saying that the current allegations against him are “right in line with his character, and not a case of his computer being hacked”, as Pachauri claimed in an interview published by The Guardian newspaper.
The woman, who can not be named for legal reasons, is represented by advocates Vrinda Grover and Ratna Appnender.
Grover wrote in an email:
In light of the recent article “Rajendra Pachauri speaks out over sexual harassment claims”, published by the Guardian on 26th March 2016, another woman who was sexually harassed by Mr. R.K.Pachauri while she was working in TERI wants to make her statement public.
She is a foreign national who worked at TERI in 2008, as R.K.Pachauri’s secretary.
As the third woman to speak out about the persistent sexual harassment committed by R.K.Pachauri, the absurdity of of his claims of computer hacking and/or anti- environment conspiracy lie exposed.
In February 2015 she had contacted Advocate Vrinda Grover after coming to know that an FIR had been registered against Mr. R.K.Pachauri for sexually harassment.
PFA: Her detailed statement. Her identity is not being disclosed in order to protect her privacy and in accordance with the law.
The woman alleged that when she was working at Teri for four months in 2008, Pachauri repeatedly sexually harassed her.
Her one year contract was allegedly terminated by Pachauri after she confronted him after the “tipping point”, of him having allegedly invited her to join him in his summer house outside of the city for the weekend, while his wife was away.
We have reached out to Pachauri’s advocate, Ashish Dixit, for comment.
These third allegations follow a second woman having issued a statement with her allegations against Pachauri in early February 2016.
According to the third complainant, allegedly:
I have read the story “Rajendra Pachauri speaks out over sexual harassment claims”, published in The Guardian. I remember that in the third week of February 2015, I had read some news reports which said that an employee of TERI had filed a criminal complaint against R.K. Pachauri for sexually harassing her. On reading these news reports, I was 0% surprised. I can very much relate to what the other women wrote in her statement. When I was 19, I worked for 4 months (end of 2008) at TERI, as Pachauri’s secretary. Pachauri’s claim that his computer was hacked is totally false.
From my point of view, this is right in line with his character, and not a case of his computer being hacked. I think it is important for me to now make my statement public so that people know the truth about Pachauri.
Here is what I recall from my time in TERI.
From the beginning I noted a big difference in the way Pachauri behaved around me, compared to how other Indian men behaved with me. Other men kept a polite distance with limited physical contact.
However, from the beginning Pachauri would put his hands on my waist repeated times, he would hug me longer than felt comfortable, kissed me on the cheek and inquired about my private life.
I started feeling insecure about his motives for hiring me, and felt extremely uncomfortable being around him.
He would call me during non-working hours and holidays to ask me to come to his office and when arriving it became evident that he had no specific task for me. Pachauri would indulge in frivolous talk and try to get close to me. When nobody else was in the office, I remember feeling very wary of the fact that we were alone in the building, so I would lie and say that a couple of friends were waiting outside.
On one of these occasions, I actually was sick and could not come to the office. He then came to my home with a bouquet of roses. This might sound sweet, but at that time I just felt uncomfortable and scared.
The tipping point came when he sais summer house outside of the city for the weekend. It would have just been him and me there, since he made it very clear that his wife was out of town.
At this point I felt genuinely scared of what his motives for inviting me over were, and I decided to speak out and set a firm limit. I told him that he needed to behave more professionally and that I wanted us to have no other contact than during office hours. He didn’t take this very well, it became clear to me that it was not going to work. I recall him being passive aggressive about it and saying in a harsh tone that he was merely trying to make me feel welcome in India, then quickly ending the conversation and saying he was busy.
So soon after this conversation I asked to be transferred to another department in TERI. My request was granted but he still contacted me and asked me to come to his office a few times after that. After stating that I did not want to work with him anymore, he called me to his office one last time and told me that he decided to end my contract.
I left New Delhi a few weeks after that. During these weeks I spoke quite openly about my experience, and I found out from many sources that this was nothing new and that Pachawas nothing new and that Pachauri has been involved in many similar situations. I heard this from two TERI ex-employees, as well as two other people I met, who had overheard journalists talking about how everybody knows he is a womanizer but no one says anything.
May it is gossip, but the picture painted by people I talked to was far from being one of a respectful, professional environmentalist.
My contract, which was for a period of 1 year, was abruptly terminated after a period of just 4 months. When he terminated my contract, I did not think there was any point in contesting it, as from my conversations with former employees at TERI I had gotten the feeling that it would be of little use trying to challenge any decision of Pachauri’s. I also felt very relieved that I would not have to face Pachauri’s sexual harassment any longer.
I left New Delhi a few weeks after this and returned to Europe.
Third Woman accuses Pachauri of having sexually harassed her when she was 19 and working at Teri in 2008
Photo by Evstafiev
Comments
It speaks to their professionalism that they invite or allow juniors to use 'physical charms' to climb the ladder and can't do promotions in an even-handed and meritorious manner.
The power relation is such that if a male boss makes it clear they are amenable to 'physical charms', by virtue of the power equation in an office, juniors of whichever gender are likely to subconsciously or consciously start playing to that.
Just like when a boss says he loves cricket and prefers associates to also like sports, for arguments sake, many will fall over themselves to ingratiate themselves with the boss by talking to him about sports, etc.
If 'sleeping your way to the top' exists as a widespread phenomenon, it does because of the environment that exists in offices and the reality that many are sexist, because the male bosses either sexually harass juniors or can't keep it in their pants or make it obvious that they won't frown upon juniors 'charming' them.
A male boss may communicate his openness (and that is completely condemnable and inappropriate), but it is upto our “femme fatale” to actively discourage any advances from the male boss. A lot of times when there is a pot of gold on offer at the other end, this is not done. Btw, the “semi-mythical” female fatale seductress has been encountered by me thrice in a period of a little over 6 years. Or may be I have been just plain unlucky :)
And again, if your boss is promoting your female colleagues over you because all you can do is discuss sports with him while they're "charming" them using their "physical charms", the fault lies entirely with your boss. The fact that you've encountered three such women is also likely a function of your boss, because women who form a microscopic minority of all women out there may sense an opportunity with this person.
As far as reasoning is concerned, why is discussing sports different from whatever you believe women are doing? Would it be different if they were "just" flirting, and not engaging in a relationship? Where does one draw this "lakshman (brother of ram, not VVS) rekha"?
And why is it up to the "femme fatale" to "activelyb discourage any advances"? Why isn't this burden entirely on the boss, and why are you instead placing it on the subordinate, who is obviously in a more vulnerable position?