The Bench and the Bar

The Supreme Court has constituted a workplace sexual harassment panel that is compliant with the so-called Vishaka guidelines, including a majority of female members and two members of civil society nominated by the Chief Justice of India (CJI).

A friend of the intern (“SJ”) who deposed before three Supreme Court judges on Monday about allegations of sexual harassment against a former Supreme Court judge, told Legally India that several recent news reports about the confidential inquiry were factually inaccurate.

The Women’s Rights Initiative of the Lawyers Collective NGO has filed a petition as amicus curiae (friend of the court), requesting the Supreme Court bring its internal sexual harassment guidelines into compliance with the rules laid down in its own Vishaka judgment, to regulate court internships, invite a notice requesting other victims to come forward confidentially, and more.

Since the allegation early this month that a “recently-retired” Supreme Court judge sexually harassed at least one intern (“SJ”), print, online and TV media news have been reporting the story’s twists and turns avidly.

The Supreme Court registry has checked the records of interns assigned to judges, on the directions of the Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam, allowing the court to identify the alleged former judge accused of sexual harassment, according to The Calcutta Telegraph yesterday.

The paper reported that “convention demanded that an intern work with a particular judge for only a month, the accused judge seemed to have insisted that the women interns work with him for six months”.

“According to the sources,” added the paper, “the feeling among the higher judiciary is that the judge should be named, if only to end the speculation about the other judges who retired recently. So far, the accused judge has not been named.”

The allegations against the unnamed judge first surfaced on 6 November in a blog post by a former student (“SJ”) who said she had interned with him. She expanded upon her experience in an interview with Legally India on Monday (11 November), with the CJI constituting a three-judge inquiry the following day.

SJ is expected to appear before the inquiry on Monday. [Click here for more coverage of this story]

A post on social media corroborated parts of the sexual harassment allegations against a former Supreme Court judge made by one of his former research assistants.

The Supreme Court today stayed the demolition of flats, which were illegally constructed more than two decades ago in the Mumbai Campa Cola society, reported the PTI.

A bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi passed the order after around 140 families living in the apartments had barricaded themselves in the compound to resist eviction to massive media attention, reported the WSJ.

The SC said that the residents in the illegal flats should move out in seven months and that the Bombay Municipal Corporation should delay the demolition until 31 May 2014, reported the Hindustan Times.

According to @Spread_Law on Twitter, Singhvi was “badly disturbed by the developments last evening”, with the disturbance remaining after the judge woke after four hours of sleep at 3:30am.

Senior counsel Fali Nariman had mentioned the matter.