New Delhi: A three-member committee of Supreme Court judges, probing charges of harassment against retired judge
A K Ganguly, yesterday held him prima facie guilty of engaging in “unwelcome behaviour” with a law intern in a Delhi hotel in December last year.
The apex court yesterday ruled out any action by it, noting that Ganguly was not a sitting judge when the incident occurred.
The committee’s report was submitted to Chief Justice
P Sathasivam on November 28 and posted on the apex court website yesterday. The report was dated November 27.
It said: “The Committee is of the considered view that the statement of (law intern, now a lawyer) both written and oral, prima facie discloses an act of unwelcome behaviour by Justice (retd) A K Ganguly with her in a room in hotel Le Meridien on December 24, 2012, approximately between 8pm and 10.30pm.”
The committee said that prior to drawing this conclusion, it both carefully scrutinised the statements of the complainant, the affidavits of her three witnesses and the statement of
Justice Ganguly.
“It appears to the committee that in the evening on December 24, 2012, (the law intern, now a lawyer) had visited hotel Le Meridien where Mr Justice (retd) A K Ganguly was staying to assist him in his work. This fact is not denied by Mr Justice (retd) A K Ganguly in his statement.”
After considering the report, a full bench of the apex court said: “Considering the fact that the said intern was not an intern on the roll of the Supreme Court and that the concerned Judge had already demitted office on account of superannuation on the date of the incident, no further follow-up action is required by this court.”
“As decided by the full court in its meeting dated December 5, 2013, it is made clear that the representations made against former judges of this court are not entertainable by the administration of the Supreme Court,” the court said.
Following the media reports on the incident, Chief Justice Sathasivam set up a three-member judges committee to go into the correctness of the allegation by the law intern.
After being considered by the full bench, the apex court’s secretary general was directed to supply a copy of the inquiry committee to the intern and Justice Ganguly. The secretary general was also asked to put it on the Supreme Court website.
The lawyer first alleged harassment on November 6, 2013, in a blog for Journal of Indian Law and Society. Subsequently, she repeated the allegation in an interview to Legally India website.
The young lawyer, who works for the organisation Natural Justice: Lawyers for Communities and Environment, said besides herself she has heard that three other girls too were harassed by the same judge.
She claimed to have knowledge of another four girls who were allegedly harassed by other judges in their chambers.
IANS
