Pachauri urged to quit Delhi thinktank after sex harassment complaint
Reuters
Published Feb 26, 2015 07:40AM ET
Pachauri urged to quit Delhi thinktank after sex harassment complaint
NEW DELHI (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Indian lawyers and women's rights groups have demanded the resignation of Rajendra Pachauri from his Delhi-based thinktank, after a sexual harassment complaint which led to him quitting as chair of the U.N. panel of climate scientists earlier this week.
In a letter to the governing council of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), activists said the thinktank had a responsibility to provide an atmosphere free from sexual harassment and discrimination against women.
Too many men in positions of power in India are taking advantage of younger women by sexually harassing them, leading to women dropping out of the workforce, activists said.
"[His resignation] will send a message... about the well being and status of women in society and that as a nation we do not tolerate the violation of the dignity and autonomy of women," activists said in the letter.
Pachauri, chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) since 2002, pulled out of an IPCC meeting in Kenya this week and resigned after Indian police started investigating the complaint by a female researcher in India.
The 29-year-old woman says the Indian scientist began harassing her soon after she joined the non-profit TERI in September 2013.
Pachauri, 74, one of the world's leading voices on the issue of global warming, has denied the charges, according to a court order.
TERI said on Thursday that he had gone on leave.
Activists said Pachauri should resign or be removed from his position as chair and director general of TERI following his resignation from the IPCC, and asked why he was allowed to go on leave rather than face sanctions.
Disciplinary proceedings should be brought against Pachauri if he fails to resign, they added.
The letter was signed by the All India Progressive Women's Association, People's Union for Civil Liberties and women's rights group Jagori, among others.
(Writing By Kieran Guilbert; Editing by Tim Pearce)
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