New Delhi: A three-judge Supreme Court panel on Thursday indicted Justice A.K. Ganguly, a former judge, for allegedly harassing a law graduate who was working as an intern for him after he had retired.
The panel that was probing the young woman lawyer’s sexual harassment complaint said there was “prima facie evidence of unwelcome sexual conduct” on the part of the retired judge. However,
Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam has closed further proceedings on the sexual harassment allegation, saying the SC could do little against a retired judge administratively.
The Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam said the three-judge Supreme Court panel had decided that "no further follow-up action is required since Justice A.K. Ganguly has retired".
Supporting the CJI’s decision, senior lawyer Geeta Luthra said: "At this stage, the presumption of innocence is always there as it is just a preliminary inquiry. "We have to keep in mind that Justice Ganguly has given iconic judgments. The panel, in my view, was fair and balanced."
But senior advocate Indira Jaisingh disagreed. She said: "The finding is more than serious. The higher the institution, the more responsibility you have. Justice Ganguly should step ddown from the post of chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission."
Senior lawyer K.T.S. Tulsi said one cannot make out anything out of "unwelcome behaviour" as termed by the three-judge panel.
"The panel has given her an opportunity, and the rest lies on her." In his statement on the Supreme Court website, the CJI said the reason the panel was set up in the first place was because the "media" reports gave the impression that the judge in question was a sitting Supreme Court judge.
The operative part of the report said: "We have carefully scrutinised the statement (written and oral) of the intern, affidavits of her three witnesses and the statement of Justice (Retd) A.K. Ganguly... It appears the intern had visited the hotel where the retired justice was staying. This fact has not been denied by Justice (Retd) A.K. Ganguly in his statement."
The CJI said: "Considering the fact that the intern was not on the roll of the Supreme Court and the concerned judge had already demitted office on account of superannuation on the date of the inicident, no further follow up action is required by this court."
The CJI sent a copy of the fact-finding committee report to the law graduate and Justice Ganguly, indicating that the aggrieved party could take desired steps.
The retired judge refused to react after the panel indicted him, saying: "I do not know what the Supreme Court has said, I won’t make any comments." The incident had come to light after the young law graduate had revealed details of the incident in a blog posting.
Justice Ganguly indicted, yet he is let-off
However, Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam has closed further proceedings on the sexual harassment allegation, saying the Supreme Court could do little against a retired judge administratively.
The CJI said the panel had decided that “no further follow-up action is required since Justice Ganguly has retired”.
Supporting the CJI's decision, senior lawyer Geeta Luthra said: “At this stage, the presumption of innocence is always there as it is just a preliminary inquiry. “We have to keep in mind that Justice Ganguly has given iconic judgments. The panel, in my view, was fair and balanced.”
But senior advocate Indira Jaisingh disagreed. She said: “The finding is more than serious. The higher the institution, the more responsibility you have. Justice Ganguly should step down from the post of chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission.”
Senior lawyer K.T.S. Tulsi said one cannot make out anything out of “unwelcome behaviour” as termed by the three-judge panel. “The panel has given her an opportunity, and the rest lies on her.”
In his statement on the Supreme Court website, the CJI said the reason the panel was set up in the first place was because the "media" reports gave the impression that the judge in question was a sitting Supreme Court judge.
The operative part of the report said: "We have carefully scrutinised the statement (written and oral) of the intern, affidavits of her three witnesses and the statement of Justice (Retd) A.K. Ganguly... It appears the intern had visited the hotel where the retired justice was staying. This fact has not been denied by Mr Justice (Retd) A.K. Ganguly in his statement."
Meanwhile, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee has written to President Pranab Mukherjee asking him to take “appropriate action” urgently against the “grave misconduct” of former Justice Ganguly.
The former judge is the chairman of the state human rights commission. Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj has demanded the former judge must resign from his post at the WBHRC.
