Pachauri allowed to visit TERI offices, bar two

A court here on Friday allowed environmentalist R.K. Pachauri, accused in a sexual harassment case, to visit all the offices of TERI, except two establishments in one of which the complainant worked.

Additional Sessions Judge Raj Kumar Tripathi allowed Pachauri's plea seeking permission to visit The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) premises, but barred him from visiting the organisation's offices in Lodhi Colony in south Delhi and Gurgaon.

Delhi Police, opposing Pachauri's plea, told the court that the victim was working at the Gurgaon office and some of the witnesses who were working at the Lodi Colony office were yet to be examined.

After the sexual harassment complaint, Pachauri, who denied all allegations, stepped down as chairperson of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in February and proceeded on leave from TERI as its director-general.

Citing several SMS texts, e-mails and WhatsApp messages as evidence, the woman accused Pachauri of sexually harassing her soon after she joined TERI in September 2013 and filed a complaint in February.

Pachauri was granted anticipatory bail on March 21 but was directed not to enter the TERI offices till the investigation is complete and not to leave the country without the court's permission.