Unwelcome conduct of sexual nature: SC indicts A K Ganguly
Justice Ganguly is currently serving as the chief of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission.
An inquiry by the Supreme Court into the sexual harassment allegations against Justice A K Ganguly has held the retired judge prima facie guilty of “unwelcome behaviour” and “unwelcome conduct of sexual nature” with the young lawyer who was interning with him in December 2012.
Despite the indictment by the three-judge panel,however,the Supreme Court has said that “no further follow up action is required by this Court”,since the intern was not on the rolls of the court,and because Justice Ganguly had retired before the date of the alleged incident,December 24,2012.
In his first reaction in Kolkata,Ganguly,who is now chairperson of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission,appeared to not believe the reports of his indictment.
“It is not true. It cannot happen. I will not say anything on this until I receive the written copy of the findings,” Ganguly said over the phone.
The retired judge,who faces mounting pressure to resign his post,went on two days’ leave on Thursday for “some personal need”,ensuring he will stay away from work at least until Monday. He was refusing to meet reporters until late in the evening.
Ganguly had on Tuesday said he was “undecided” on leaving his post. On Wednesday,Trinamool MP Derek O’Brien blogged that it was “wholly incumbent upon Justice Ganguly to step down… as chair of the WBHRC”.
In his administrative order,Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam said,“As decided by the Full Court in its meeting dated 5th December,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 order can,however,mean a lifting of the tacit curb on the police against proceeding in the case. S N Singh,a former dean of Delhi University’s Law Faculty,has approached the police with a complaint to lodge an FIR against Ganguly. The Supreme Court panel was then seized of the matter,but with that process now complete,the police might move ahead with its investigation.
The Supreme Court order quoted from the relevant portion of the report submitted by the panel last Thursday to say that the statement of the lawyer,“both written and oral,prima facie discloses an act of unwelcome behaviour (unwelcome verbal/non-verbal conduct of sexual nature) by Mr Justice (retd) A K Ganguly with her in the room in hotel Le Meridien on 24.12.2012 approximately between 8.00 P.M. and 10.30 P.M”.
The panel said it had “carefully scrutinised” the statement of the lawyer,affidavits of her three witnesses,and the statement of Ganguly,who had also not denied that the girl had visited him in the hotel on the relevant date.
The order,posted on the Supreme Court’s web site,asked the secretary general to supply copies of the panel’s report to both the lawyer and to Ganguly.
“Taking cognizance of the fact that such allegation against a Supreme Court judge will have a direct bearing on the institution’s reputation and credibility,” the CJI had suo motu set up the three-judge panel,comprising Justices R M Lodha,H L Dattu and Ranjana P Desai.
In a blog posted on the web site of the Journal of Indian Law and Society on November 6 and later,in an interview to the web site Legally India,the lawyer had alleged that she was sexually harassed in December by a Supreme Court judge with whom she was then interning.
The woman,who graduated from Kolkata’s National University of Juridical Sciences this year,did not name the judge,but said he had “retired recently”.
Earlier on Thursday,Justice Ganguly said over the phone that he did not remember having sent any text messages to the complainant,as has been reported.
“I do not remember about any such text messages,” he told The Indian Express.
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