The complainant in the sexual harassment case against former Director General of TERI RK Pachuari who resigned from the organisation last week alleging that it had treated her in the "worst possible manner", has said that she will continue her fight and take it to its logical end.
"Nothing that I have initiated will be impacted per se due to my resignation, it does not affect the legalities in any matter. I will let law take its course and I shall take the matter to its logical conclusion," the complainant told The News Minute over email.
The complainant had registered a complaint against Pachauri for sexual harassment at the workplace and had also lodged an FIR with Delhi Police in February 2015.
In her resignation letter addressed to Dinesh Verma, head of Human Resources, the complainant had written, "TERI failed to uphold my interests as an employee, let alone protecting them. The organisation has instead protected R K Pachauri and provided him with full immunity, despite being held guilty of sexual harassment at the workplace by your own inquiry committee."
Speaking to TNM, the complainant said that her family has been supportive of her decisions and that taking on big names and organisations has not bogged her down in any way. "I never thought of giving up. I have been wronged and I am determined to take this to its logical end. Shall definitely fight this out. I have access to some great lawyers. I couldn't have lived the rest of my life in fear and guilt."
The complainant also said that she had not anticipated the turn that the case has taken.
"I did have a feeling that complaining to the ICC alone would not be enough and felt compelled to lodge a police complaint but at least expecting that the case and my job would be kept independent of each other. I had no support from TERI on this, while I should have had most assistance from the organisation in the police proceedings and in the legal matters - I have had none.
The organisation instead hired a counsel for itself. The atmosphere at the organisation was hostile and in an unprecedented turn of events, it only went from bad to worse. The management and the Governing Council behaved as though it’s business as usual and did not take any action pending the inquiry nor even when the verdict was out," she said.
Though the complainant has every plan to pursue the case till the end, she had to quit the organisation because she felt she was left with "no choice".
In an interview to The Quint, she said, "I quit because I had no choice. TERI made no efforts to conceal my identity. Blogs were written and commented on by all and sundry. My desk was cordoned off with the police tape even after the cops had seized my work computer. Everyone got to know who the complainant is. Keeping me away from my work for so long also gave away my identity. If quitting wasn’t enough, TERI issued a rather disturbing press release against me, which carried all my details and now anyone can identify me. I will now assess where I stand legally and initiate appropriate action."