A snapshot of the internal mail reached her on Monday morning. The mail announced that Rajendra K. Pachauri, the former head of The Energy and Research institute (Teri), was now its executive vice-chairman.

"I couldn't believe it. I felt disgusted and let down," says the 30-year-old woman who has accused Pachauri of sexually harassing her when she was employed by Teri.

It was exactly a year ago that she approached Teri's Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) and filed a police complaint against Pachauri, then Teri director-general and chairman of its governing council. She accused him of making unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures and sending her sexually-laden texts and email messages.

Pachauri went "on leave" - but came back on what seemed like a promotion. It was almost as if the 75-year-old man was thumbing his nose at her. An outcry followed, forcing the Teri governing council on Friday to ask Pachauri to proceed on leave again. "This happening in the heart of the capital just shows how much so many others have to fight out in less fortunate parts of our country," she says.

Just how traumatic it is to lodge a complaint against a boss - a very well-connected man at that - becomes clear in this case. For a year, the woman - who doesn't wish to be named - has faced one obstacle after another, right from lack of support from senior management at Teri to colleagues refusing to testify against the boss, fearing harassment or not wishing to go through the trauma of having to recount their own ordeals before Teri's inquiry committee and the police.

She draws strength from the fact that her family stood by her. She remembers what her father said when she told him about the harassment at work. Those who remain silent in crime are a part of the crime, he said. "He was supportive and glad that I told him and my mother what I had gone through. Of course, I was unable to tell everything in one sitting with them," she recalls.

She has submitted before the police emails and text and WhatsApp messages to back her allegations against Pachauri. According to media reports, Pachauri says in one email: "I find it now very difficult to hug you. What haunts me are your words from the last time that I 'grabbed' your body. That would apply to someone who would want to molest you. I loved you in the soul, mind, heart..."

Pachauri has claimed that his computer was hacked.

The complainant says that the office environment changed after she went to the police. Her identity was not protected by the management and almost the entire organisation came to know about her. "For instance, Teri officials did not bother to remove the police tape around my workstation once my computer had been seized by the cops," she says.

Blog posts on Teri's internal website attracted "rather distasteful comments" on her and her family background was questioned. "Those who were known to me alleged that their computer systems were being watched by the IT department," she says.

Few extended a helping hand to her. "None from senior management approached me with a word of consolation nor did any current employee," she says, adding that a few did leave messages asking her if she was all right. Not many were willing to stand with her and only a few testified before the ICC.

Those were difficult months. "The amount of material I had to collect to support my complaint - emails, documents, writing down responses to rejoinders and putting it all together - was taking a toll on me. Recounting it all and reading through unpleasant, intimidating material would leave me feeling more disturbed," she says.

She had little faith in the ICC, but found that it worked honestly. "I felt they were going to be made powerless and that every effort would be made to hush up the inquiry. At the end of it all, I have nothing but immense respect for the three women on the ICC panel," she says. The ICC found Pachauri guilty of misconduct. But the police investigations are still on and they are yet to file a chargesheet.

There were days, she says, when she didn't want to get up from bed as she felt fatigued and mentally drained out. "Negativity was at an all time high. I did seek help from a wellness doctor who worked with me to help reduce my anxiety and negativity," she says.

This was clearly not what she had bargained for when she joined Teri as a research analyst in September, 2013, with a strong educational background and experience. She doesn't want to reveal much about her education or her experience as under the law she is entitled not to reveal any information that may disclose her identity.

"I had international exposure and willingly returned to India to work more closely on issues that I care about and I genuinely thought of Teri as an amazing place to work at," she says. "For someone like me in science, this was a dream come true because you were not stuck in the lab or at the desk. You got to broaden your horizon with other aspects of research. But all in vain."

The messages that she received from Teri on the harassment case often had a sting in it. "Reading such content would set my day back and I would not be able to do a lot in the day because of the disgust it created in me," she says. Everything has been placed on record before the high court of Delhi highlighting instances of "hostility, humiliation and mistreatment".

After her complaint, she was removed from her office in central Delhi and posted to Gurgaon against her will. "I never asked for any transfer or change in my work. It was simply imposed on me. I sought an explanation but it was never given," she says.

Finally, she resigned from her job in November last year. "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," she wrote in her resignation letter.

She says that she felt "instantly relieved and lighter" after quitting Teri. "Now that I am working, I feel more strengthened. I have two roles and a project. It feels great to be working."

But she is clear about one thing. She wrote in her resignation letter that she would take "all pending litigation to their logical conclusion". And she'll do that - even if Pachauri walks in and out of Teri.

Speak out

Two other employees of Teri have also charged R.K. Pachauri with sexual harassment. Their lawyer says that they wished to record their statements with the Delhi Police but weren’t allowed to do so. One of the two women went public with a statement this week, in which she accused Pachauri of:

• Giving her a sexually suggestive nickname
• Making sexually loaded remarks
• Calling her on her personal mobile number, requesting her to join him for dinner or drinks
• Forcibly holding and kissing her on her face