Citing ‘pressured’ scholar, woman moves Delhi High Court against bail to RK Pachauri

NEW DELHI: The woman complainant in the sexual harassment case against RK Pachauri moved the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, seeking cancellation of his anticipatory bail. This comes two days after ET reported about a police complaint filed by her former colleague, a male researcher at TERI, alleging pressure from senior officials at the institute to arrange for an out-ofcourt settlement of the case.

The 29-year-old woman, in her application, said the development reported in the article was an "extremely important ground" for the cancellation of the bail.

The application was filed for urgent hearing by Prashant Mendiratta, the complainant’s counsel. The court is scheduled to consider it on Thursday afternoon.

The woman has questioned as to why the researcher’s complaint was not brought to the notice of the high court by the Delhi Police on January 13, when court was hearing arguments on Pachauri’s bail. As first reported by ET on January 25, the male researcher’s complaint was received by the Lodhi Colony Police Station in Delhi at 7:45 pm on January 12.

"Despite the investigating officer and the SHO concerned being fully aware of the contents of the complaint by the researcher, they did not bother to inform this court about this extremely important fact having a bearing on the petition," the application read.

It sought to know what the police have done on the researcher’s complaint since January 12, and urged the court to direct the police to file a status report of the scholar’s complaint.

According to the male scholar’s complaint, one of the four top TERI officials who "coaxed and cajoled" him to "persuade" the woman complainant for an out-of-court settlement was a woman. The woman official allegedly told the researcher in a "patronising tone" to ask his "lady friend" to "settle it out of court as there is nothing more left to achieve".

The scholar could become one of the crucial witnesses in the case, said sources.

Interestingly, within hours after complainant moved the HC, the Police got the statement of the male researcher recorded under Section 161 of the CrPC. The statement concluded around 10:30 pm.

The woman complainant submitted on Wednesday that the scholar’s complaint vindicated her stand wherein she had maintained that "Pachauri has been exercising pressure upon TERI and its officials", owing which the officials "had not cooperated with the police and had made statements to the police which were dictated by Pachauri".