Delhi Police ask law intern to register complaint; Sibal says SC must take case forward

New Delhi/Kolkata: With the Supreme Court washing its hands off the issue, the Delhi Police on Friday asked the woman law intern to record her statement in the sexual harassment complaint she had made against retired Justice A.K. Ganguly who has been indicted by an apex court panel.

"We have sent an email to her and we are waiting for her response...We have requested her to indicate the time and place where her statement can be recorded," Joint Commissioner of Police (New Delhi) M.K. Meena told reporters in Delhi.

A Delhi Police statement said it was awaiting her version of the incident. Earlier, former Delhi University Professor S.N. Singh of the law faculty had given a written complaint to the Station House Officer of Tilak Marg 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 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354-A and 354-B and the other relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)," the Professor had said in his complaint.

Law Minister Kapil Sibal questioned the decision of the Supreme Court of not taking further action against Justice Ganguly who has been indicted in a case of sexual harassment, saying the issue cannot be 'brushed under the carpet' just because he has retired. 

"I am a little disappointed because the institution which has found that sexual overtures were made, was to have taken the matter forward," he said. He said in his view, prima facie the apex court has "brushed it under the carpet, in a sense that they have said that they have nothing to do with the matter because he is no longer a judge. 

"Well, if he was no longer a judge, then they should not have set up the inquiry. Having come to a conclusion, they cannot give that reason to say they won't take it forward," he said in unusually strong remarks.

The National Commission of Women (NCW) on Friday wrote a fresh letter to Delhi Police asking it lodge a formal complaint against the judge in the light of the indictment by the apex court panel. It has also issued notice to Justice Ganguly on the issue asking why action should not be taken against him.

BJP leader Arun Jaitley also demanded that the former SC judge should demit the office.

The Supreme Court cannot follow an 'escapist route' on the sexual harassment complaint against Ganguly, Jaitley said, demanding that the apex court monitor a probe in the case as it had done in other matters like 2G scam.

The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha argued on his Facebook page that the Supreme Court's reasoning that it cannot deal with the charges against Justice Ganguly due to its "administrative" limitations as he is a retired judge of the apex court "fails the test of conscience".

"If it (SC) has found a former Judge of the Supreme Court prima facie committed an offence, it cannot follow an escapist route and hold that on the administrative side it has no jurisdiction. 

"The Supreme Court is fully empowered on the Judicial side to ensure that the law takes its own course. It cannot escape from its judicial responsibility," Jaitley said.

"The administrative decision of the Supreme Court is being closely watched by all citizens. Is the Court dealing with a former Judge, who currently holds the office as the Chairman, Human Rights Commission, West Bengal in the same way as it would have dealt with any other person who is or has been the holder of an exalted office?" he said.

The BJP leader said Justice Ganguly must face the investigations as an ordinary citizen stepping down from the office he holds.

Senior Congress leader Ambika Soni said those occupying high offices must step down, whether guilty or not, as it only increases their moral stature. "The accusation of wrong behavior, to put it mildly is the same whether you are serving or you are a retired person. The accusation does not change," she said when asked about the issue. 

A Committee of three judges of the Supreme Court had indicted Justice Ganguly for 'unwelcome behaviour' and 'conduct of sexual nature' towards the intern, prompting demands that action under criminal law should be initiated against him.

Chief Justice of India Justice P. Sathasivam had on Thrusday explained that since Justice Ganguly was not a serving judge at the time of the incident, no further follow up action was required by the Supreme Court.

Justice Ganguly, who retired from the apex court more than a year ago and currently heads the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, was accused by the intern of sexually harassing her in a hotel room in Delhi last year.

The judge strongly denied the charge. Justice Ganguly refused to comment on the growing demand for his resignation from the post of West Bengal Human Rights Commission Chairman in the wake of his indictment by the Supreme Court panel.

"Don't disturb me...Don't disturb me. I have tolerated enough," a visibly angry Ganguly told reporters in Kolkata when he stepped out of his house.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee asking him to take 'appropriate action' urgently against the 'grave misconduct' of the former Supreme Court Judge.

Next: Ball set rolling for Justice Ganguly's removal: Bengal Law minister 

Ball set rolling for Justice Ganguly's removal: Law minister 

Kolkata: West Bengal Law minister Chandrima Bhattacharya on Friday said Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already set the ball rolling for the removal of Justice Ashok Kumar Ganguly as the chairman of West Bengal Human Rights Commission by writing to President Pranab Mukherjee seeking "appropriate action".

"The Chief Minister has set the ball rolling for Ganguly's removal from the WBHRC chairman's post by writing to the President seeking appropriate action... Now it's in the President's domain," state law minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said today.

"The Human Rights is a subject that comes under the Home Department, a portfolio held by the Chief Minister herself," Bhattacharya added. The WBHRC chairman is not attending office since Thursday, commission sources said.

Asked about the procedure for removal of a chairperson of a state human rights commission, Bhattacharya said, "The Human Rights Act provides for the procedure for removal."

The Human Rights Act, 1993, as per the WBHRC website, provides that "(1) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (2), the chairperson or any other Member of the Commission shall only be removed from his office by order of the President on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity after the Supreme Court, on reference being made to it by the President, has, on inquiry held in accordance with the procedure prescribed in that behalf by the Supreme Court, reported that the Chairperson or such other Member, as the case may be, ought on any such ground to be removed."

However, the Act also says in sub-section (2) that "notwithstanding anything in sub-section (1), the President may by order remove from office the Chairperson or any other Member if the Chairperson or such other Member is convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for an offence which in the opinion of the President involves moral turpitude."