We the undersigned activists and organizations of the Indian women’s movement express our outrage at the fact that R.K. Pachauri has filed a civil suit for injunction and demanded damages of Rs. 1 crore against Advocate Vrinda Grover. The attempt is to hold Ms. Grover liable in a civil suit for her efforts towards bringing official cognizance of two complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace brought against Mr. R.K. Pachauri by two of his former colleagues.
Both these women have complained that they were sexually harassed at TERI by Mr. Pachauri much prior to the complainant of FIR dated 18th February 2015, in which Mr. R.K. Pachauri has now been charge-sheeted in February 2016. Alarmingly, despite the fact that Ms. Grover has sent repeated written communications to senior officers of the Delhi police informing them that her two clients would like their statements to be recorded, the police have till date not taken any steps in this regard.
The very public attack on Ms. Grover is a matter of concern for all those who, like the signatories to this letter, are struggling to deliver substantive justice under the laws on sexual harassment in the workplace in India today.
Firstly: All codes of professional ethics have been breached in this act of suing Ms. Grover for damages. Mr. Pachauri’s legal representative, Ashish Dixit, in The New Indian Express article titled “European Woman Accused Pachauri of Harassment”, dated 31st March 2016, has charged Ms. Grover of leading a “conspiracy to defame” Mr. R.K. Pachauri. This imputation of motives of a criminal nature to Ms. Grover, the opposing counsel, is a serious violation of the statutorily binding professional code of conduct and etiquette expected from advocates. This breach is made even more egregious by the fact that Ms. Grover is the woman lawyer representing two women in their complaints of sexual harassment by the petitioner, leading as it does to the inescapable conclusion that the civil suit is just a continuation of the intimidation and vilification of women (be they complainants or their lawyers) who have the temerity to pursue complaints of sexual harassment against powerful men.
Second: Given that laws and provisions legitimizing the grievance of workplace sexual harassment are relatively recent, investigation into such charges needs to record the complete history of every case that may be relevant to ongoing investigations. By refusing to record the statements of Ms. Grover’s clients against Mr. R.K. Pachauri for close to a year after Ms. Grover approached them on their behalf, the police has already demonstrated its lack of commitment to a full and vigorous investigation of these women’s grievances. Now, by suing Ms. Grover for acting on her clients’ instructions to make their statements public, Mr. Pachauri seeks to restrain her from executing her responsibilities to her clients. Clearly his intent is also to deny to these two women, and by implication all complainants, the right to share their experiences of sexual harassment in public when their every effort to access justice has been thwarted.
The fact of the matter is that this civil suit against Ms. Grover is yet another instance of the impunity with which Mr. Pachauri has been able to maintain his immunity with respect to his abuse of three women’s human rights. His objective in trying to gag Ms. Grover, is to consolidate the immunity given to him by his organisation TERI, by ‘cooperative’ police officials strangely reluctant to record the two statements that will strengthen the case against him, and amenable sections of the media which have buttressed his claims of being framed in the charges against him.
Over the past month or so, Mr. Pachauri has courted the international media. In interviews given to The Guardian and The Observer, he presents himself as a man beleaguered and hounded by climate-change skeptics and women activists, conflating women activists taking up charges of sexual harassment with climate change sceptics. The three women complainants it should be pointed out were working for the cause of climate change to the point of enduring sexual harassment from Pachauri, which makes such a charge of belittling the cause of climate change absolutely ridiculous.
As individuals and organizations committed to the implementation of the country’s laws on sexual harassment in the workplace, we condemn in the strongest terms Mr. Pachauri’s shamelessly transparent bid to influence the sub judice case about to enter its trial phase in a month’s time
The fact that Mr. Pachauri’s suit is also directed simultaneously at prominent Indian media houses, such as Bennet Coleman, NDTV, and India Today, reveals an intent aimed at throttling all public reference to the complaints of sexual harassment against him.
Furthermore, we would like to emphasise that Mr. Pachauri’s suit against opposing counsel has implications that will have a chilling effect on complaints of sexual harassment, as it has all the characteristics of an instance of strategic lawsuit against public participation (SLAPP). Such legal actions are intended to censor, intimidate, and silence critics by burdening them with the cost of a legal defence until they abandon their criticism or opposition. In addition, since Mr. Pachauri’s suit also targets prominent media houses, the aim is perpetuation of a social space in which only Mr. Pachauri’s defence and allegations against complainant(s) holds sway, thereby creating an atmosphere that is in general disbelieving and often downright hostile to complainant(s) and their efforts to access justice.
Accordingly, we demand that official cognizance be taken of the attempt to intimidate Ms. Grover and her clients. Mr Pachauri’s actions suggest that he has learnt nothing from the failure of his earlier attempts to silence the complainants. Mr. Pachauri it appears is finding it difficult to understand that he can no longer evade the law and he will have to face legal consequences.
We expect those who bear the responsibility of bringing him to justice, to convey this message to Mr. Pachauri in clear and unambiguous terms. We also urge the National Commission for Women to maintain oversight of the pre-trial process and ensure that it is not influenced or subverted by those who seek to protect Mr.Pachauri from the consequences of his actions.
We call upon all like-minded individuals and organizations to join us in supporting the right of Advocate Vrinda Grover to pursue this case and bring justice where it is due.