The controversy surrounding former Supreme Court Judge Justice A K Ganguly, doubts were raised over the timing of the allegations by a law intern of sexual harassment has taken a new turn following Justice Ganguly latest letter to the Chief Justice of India. The judge has said, “I have never harassed nor did I make any unwelcome advances to any law intern. The very suggestion of it, to say the least, is out of tune with my personal conduct.”
Justice Ganguly says, “There is a concerted move to
tarnish my image as I had the unfortunate duty of rendering certain judgments
against powerful interests. I may point out that despite odds I judged the
issues without fear or favour and if that triggers a collateral attack on me
then it poses threat to the independence of the judiciary.”
It widely believed that the UPA government was terribly
annoyed over the 2G judgment delivered by a two judge bench of which Justice
Ganguly was on judge. The manner in which some Union Ministers of the Manmohan
Singh Government mounted attack on justice Ganguly raised doubts about the
motive behind the allegations of sexual harassament.
Without prejudging the matter, it is surprising why an
intern should write as blog almost a year after in the alleged incident that
took place in a five star hotel of Delhi on eve of Christmas. It is possible
that the intern might have shared her experience with her friends and may with
some lawyers. It is possible that “powerful interests” that Justice Ganguly mentions
in his letter to the Chief Justice of India got into act and decided to fix the
judge in question.
The vocal demands to punish Justice Ganguly has come
not only from some Central Ministers but also from senior law officers of the
Government of India besides some lawyers who represented the case of private
telecommunication operators who wield considerable influence over the
government of the day.
The demand is made of Presidential reference to the
charge against Justice Ganguly. The West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee
have written letters to and even met the President Pranab Mukherjee against
Justice Ganguly. The Trinamool Congress leaders want Justice Ganguly to resign
from the post of the State Human Rights Commission of West Bengal.
There is pressure on the complainant (law intern) to
lodge a formal complaint to the Police regarding her accusations of sexual
harassment by Justice Ganguly since the alleged incident took place almost a
year ago.
Justice Ganguly has also questioned the role of the
Additional Solicitor General Indira Jai Singh in releasing the affidavit she
presented before the three member inquiry committee of the Supreme Court. Now
it is said that the law intern has come out with a statement that it was she
who had authorized Indira Jaisingh to release the affidavit to the Press. Some
people are overactive in pursuing the charge against the retired judge since
the law is heavily loaded against the complainant or for that matter any victim
of sexually harassment and rape.
~R. K. Sinha
