Written by: Express News Service
2 min readKolkataDec 4, 2013 03:55 AM IST
First published on: Dec 4, 2013 at 03:55 AM IST
Former Supreme Court Judge A K Ganguly,accused of sexual harassment by a young woman lawyer,said on Tuesday that he was “undecided” on whether to resign from the chairmanship of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC).
“I have not decided,” he said,adding that he was “disturbed” about such questions being raised.
“He came to office as usual today. He did not say anything about it (resigning) and there was nothing to suggest that he would put in his papers,” said Sujoy Halder,secretary,WBHRC.
State Law Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said the department has not written to the President on the issue.
Trinamool Congress MP Kalyan Banerjee said Justice Ganguly should resign immediately to uphold the dignity of the chair. BJP leader Sushma Swaraj had also demanded his resignation on Monday.
Ganguly is also a guest lecturer at the National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS) in Kolkata. A top official of the university said he would continue there.
Meanwhile,former dean of Delhi University’s Law Faculty S N Singh and retired IAS officer Promila Shankar submitted a letter to the office of Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam seeking Ganguly’s removal from the WBHRC. They also demanded swift action “to safeguard the credentials of the judicial system in the country”.
“As per serious allegations of criminal conduct… (he) has no right to continue as head of WBHRC and we solicit your kind indulgence to direct the Governor of West Bengal to ask (him) to demit his office pending inquiry to facilitate a fair and impartial investigation in the whole matter,” they said.
Singh and Shankar complained of “a new jurisprudence for the high and mighty”,saying the police had failed to lodge an FIR. Singh had lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police seeking registration of an FIR on the basis of the lawyer’s allegation that she was sexually harassed last December.
Share
