Former UN climate change panel chief Rajendra Kumar Pachauri went on trial yesterday in a sexual harassment case filed against him by a colleague, lawyers said.
“Metropolitan magistrate Charu Gupta has put Mr Pachauri on trial for the offences under sections of Indian penal code pertaining to sex harassment as well as violating the modesty of a woman,” said the complainant’s lawyer, Prashant Mendiratta.
“The court formally framed the charges and decided to proceed with the trial after Mr Pachauri, who was present in the courtroom, pleaded not guilty,” he added.
Pachauri, 78, resigned from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in February 2015 after his colleague, a researcher at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), made allegations of sexual harassment.
The woman, then aged 29, alleged Pachauri made physical advances and sent her lewd e-mails and text messages after she started working at the institute in 2013.
An internal committee at the woman’s research institute had found him guilty of misconduct.
Pachauri could be sentenced to at least five years in jail if found guilty.
The court has summoned the complainant on January 4 for cross-examination and evidence in the case.
He goes on trial just as the #MeToo movement sweeps India with a large number of women accusing public figures in the media and entertainment industry of sexual misconduct.
Junior foreign minister M J Akbar resigned last week after women journalists accused him of making physical advances in hotel rooms and in the office during his previous career as an editor.
India is also considering tightening sexual harassment laws, government officials said last week.
The Delhi court has charged Pachauri under sections of the Indian Penal Code including sexual harassment and outraging the modesty of a woman.
Also yesterday Kannada actress Sruthi Hariharan accused south Indian actor Arjun Sarja of sexually harassing her on the sets of a film in 2016.
He has dismissed the claim.
“I was shooting for a bilingual film which starred Arjun Sarja, a man whose movies I have grown up watching. I was excited about the opportunity,” Sruthi said in a Facebook post.
During the film rehearsal, the 54-year-old actor who has appeared in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films, had to do a romantic scene with the actress, who played the role of his wife in the film, which she has not named in the post.
“During the rehearsal, we delivered our lines and Mr Arjun hugs me. He pulls me closer,” the 29-year-old actress recalled.
The incident which took place in the presence of at least 50 of the film’s crew left her “aghast”, Sruthi said.
“I am all for depicting realism in cinema, but this felt absolutely wrong. His intent seemed anything but professional. I hated that he did it and angry that I didn’t know what to say then,” she added.
The actress said the film’s director had “sensed her discomfort” and that she had shared the incident with her make-up team and informed the direction department that she was not interested to be part of rehearsals.
“During the course of production, every smutty innuendo he made created an unpalatable work environment for me. His salacious invitations to meet him after work appalled me,” added Sruthi, who featured in the critically acclaimed Kannada film Lucia (2013).
Though she didn’t want to go back to filming, she had to finish the project she had signed, Sruthi said.
“I choose to come out now because henceforth, I think Mr Arjun Sarja needs to make sure he doesn’t cross the thin line between two actors and use his position of power to cause another person discomfort or hurt,” she added.
The actress said the #MeToo movement is to make sure “no man ever takes a woman’s personal space for granted, whoever she is to him.
“This (film) industry has helped me achieve my dreams, explore my capabilities and inspired me to be versatile. It breaks my heart to share that I have felt unsafe, disturbed and disappointed in far too many situations,” said Sruthi.
Arjun, popularly known as ‘Action King’, has acted in over 150 movies across Tamil, Telugu and Kannada languages.
He has dismissed the allegations as “false”.




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