Ready to face death penalty if found guilty, says accused High Court judge

In a complaint to CJI R M Lodha and several other SC judges, the woman judge has alleged that Justice Gangele had sent a message through the district registrar asking her to dance on an item number at his residence, and later remarked that he missed a chance to view a sexy and beautiful figure dance for which he was desperate. The complainant was heading the Vishaka Committee on sexual harassment at work place when she herself was subjected to harassment.

While the woman judge chose not to speak to the media, her husband told The Indian Express, “Except a few missing bits, most of what she had said in her complained has appeared in the press. We have full faith in the system which started working after the complaint. We will wait for one more day and then decide the future course of action.’’

The complainant resigned, citing personal reasons, on July 15 when she was transferred from Gwalior, where she had joined in 2011, to Sidhi, hundreds of km away. While interacting with the local media in Gwalior after her resignation, the judge did not talk of harassment.

In her complaint to the CJI, she claimed her transfer was unjust and that her annual confidence report rated her work as outstanding. In her early 40s, the complainant alleged that she was transferred because she refused to visit Justice Gangele’s residence alone, and did not budge when she sought to postpone her transfer by eight months to enable her daughter to complete Class XII.

Justice Gangele said the allegations were totally false and were leveled after her resignation. In a letter to Chief Justice of the MP High Court, Justice Gangele claimed she telephoned him on June 14 when he was on vacation in Delhi and told him that district registrar Naveen Sharma was harassing her. He said on his return she visited him at his residence along with her husband and repeated the grievance against the district registrar.

Justice Gangele claimed except the phone call and the home visit, no telephone calls or text messages were exchanged between the two. “It can be verified from my call details or from any other method as Your Lordship may think proper,’’ he said in the one-and-a-half page letter. He said she was transferred to Sidhi on administrative ground but he was not aware of the reason. He said after the transfer she called him again and requested to cancel it but he told her it was not possible for him because he was not on the committee that decided transfers.

“I do not know under what circumstances and under what influence she has made such type of allegations,’’ he said and added that if he was found guilty by probe agency he would be ready to face the death penalty without trial. He told The Indian Express that he would continue to perform his duty and go on leave immediately if advised by the Chief Justice.

Meanwhile, the High Court questioned the version of the woman judge that the Chief Justice had declined her appointment.

High Court’s Registrar General Ved Prakash said the judicial officer had telephonically sought an appointment with the Chief Justice through the latter’s principal private secretary (PPS) after she had already tendered her resignation and it had been forwarded to the state government for necessary action.

In a statement, Prakash said the PPS advised her to submit a formal representation but she did not do so. According to him, the judge concerned (Justice Gangele) sent a confidential letter to the Chief Justice who in turn forwarded it to the CJI with his comments.

The High Court’s administrative committee considered and rejected her two representations seeking cancellation of her transfer on the ground of her daughters’ education. The Registrar General said “she has not represented about the alleged misbehaviour or harassment caused to her by anyone’’.