Delhi court frames molestation charges against former TERI chief RK Pachauri

Trouble seems to have mounted for former TERI chief and environmentalist RK Pachauri as Delhi Court on Saturday framed molestation charges against him. A case of sexual misconduct was filed by his former colleague in 2015.

The Delhi court framed charges against Pachauri under section 354 (outraging modesty), 354 A (making physical contact, unwelcome and sexually coloured remarks) and 509 (teasing and using vulgar gesture and actions) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Advocate Ashish Dixit has sought a speedy trial for Pachauri. The next hearing of the matter is on January 4, 2019. An FIR was registered against RK Pachauri on February 13, 2015, and was granted anticipatory bail on March 21, 2015.

The Delhi Court has also summoned complainant to appear in the court in the next proceedings on January 4 next year.

The former TERI chief had earlier secured an interim order from Additional District Judge making it mandatory for media houses to publish or telecast the coverage of the case with a title that “In any court, the allegations have not been proven and they may not be correct”.

This order had also said, “when such information is published on any page of a magazine or report, then it should be in the middle of the page in bold letters and it should be five times larger than the font in which the article is being published”.

Over 1,400-page charge sheet was filed by the Delhi Police on March 1, 2016, saying there was ‘sufficient evidence’ against Pachauri that he had sexually harassed, stalked and threatened the complainant.

“We will be filing a revision petition in the Sessions Court. We were waiting for formal order on framing of charges. Now we will ask the court to frame charges on those sections too, because we have proof of direct averments made by the complainant which makes a case for an offense under the sections he is not charged under yet,” complainant’s lawyer Prashant Mendiratta told News18.

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