Another intern accuses retired Supreme Court judge of sexual harassment

New Delhi: Another allegation of sexual harassment against a Supreme Court judge, who has since retired, has surfaced with a second law intern levelling a similar charge that he had misbehaved with her. This is the same retired judge against whom a lawyer had made allegations a few days back.

The second intern narrated her ordeal on a social networking site on November 11 under her own name but the comments have now been removed from it, reported the website Legally India, which first came out with the fresh allegation.

Also read: SC forms panel in lawyer harassment case

In a discussion, the website said, the woman, who also came from NUJS, a premier Law school in Kolkata like the first intern, wrote in a Facebook comment that she herself had been at the receiving end of "unsolicited sexual advance more than once".

"However, in the last year alone, I've been privy to three different instances of sexual harassment and what the women went through... very often at the hands of their bosses or someone in a position of power over them," the website quoted her as saying.

She also said when she confronted the then sitting judge of the apex court with the allegation of the intern, on whose charges, the Supreme Court has formed a three-judge committee to probe into it, he promised that he would never misbehave with another woman.

"He (judge) promised, incidentally, that he would never misbehave with another lady. Maybe it's naivete to believe him. Maybe it's just youthful optimism. Being brave is tougher than it appears on the face of it, no? The first intern has oodles of courage," the website claimed about the woman lawyer having written in the social website.

The startling allegation of sexual harassment was first made against the unnamed retired judge by a woman intern on a her blog on November 6 in which she had accused the judge of misbehaving with her in a hotel room last December when the nation was grappling with the gangrape of a woman in the capital.

The allegation was raised in the apex court before Chief Justice P Sathasivam who constituted a three-judge committee to go into the charge of the woman and had observed that "in the cases of sexual harassment, we cannot take it lightly."

Next: Police start preliminary probe into sexual assault charge against retired judge

Police start preliminary probe into sexual assault charge against retired judge

New Delhi: Delhi police have initiated a preliminary inquiry into the allegation of sexual harassment against an unnamed retired Supreme Court judge by a woman intern after it received a complaint in this regard from a former dean of Delhi University's Faculty of Law.

"Following the complaint from Professor S N Singh, we have initiated a preliminary inquiry in the case. We are trying to contact the victim(s) in the case and once that happens, further action in the case will take its course," Deputy Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) S.B.S Tyagi told PTI.

Although, police have not registered an FIR in the case relating to the intern's charge, sources said it may do so once the victim comes forward. Professor Singh had yesterday given a written complaint to the Station House Officer of Tilak Marg Police Station rpt Police Station to register an FIR in this regard.

"Please treat this communication to lodge an FIR for sexual assault of (the victim) and others which is a cognisable offence under Section 354, 354-A and 354-B and the other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)," the Professor said in his complaint.

The complaint further says the victim, who is currently a lawyer working with a non-government organisation, during her law internship in Delhi, was allegedly sexually assaulted by the judge who is old enough to be her grandfather.

"According to her statement, three other girls were sexually harassed by the same person and four other girls faced harassment from other persons…"