Metropolitan Magistrate Shivani Chauhan also allowed the environmentalist to travel to Mexico and the United States for over a month, citing that he was given similar permission earlier and that he always complied with the court's orders. Asking Pachauri to furnish a surety of Rs 2 lakh, Chauhan said, "The accused is permitted to travel as per his itinerary from July 12 to August 14."
Delhi Police had chargesheeted Pachauri in March under Sections 354A (advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures), 354B (using criminal force against a woman), 354D (stalking), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 341 (wrongful restraint).
Pachauri was accused of sexually harassing a female colleague in 2015. When the woman filed a complaint against Pachauri last year, he immediately moved a Delhi court for anticipatory bail and the police was initially restrained from arresting him. He was never arrested during the investigation.
On March 1, the Delhi Police filed a 1,400-page chargesheet against Pachauri for allegedly sexually harassing a former woman colleague. He had also been accused of stalking and criminally intimidating the victim.
Reports said that after a year-long investigation into the case against Pachauri, police had found more than 6,000 texts and WhatsApp messages between him and the complainant between September 2013 and February 2015, besides 34 calls he had made to her in that time. In February, another woman accused Pachauri of sexually harassing her. Pachauri earlier sought Delhi High Court action against media houses for publishing “misleading reports with some ulterior motives”.
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