•  •  Dark Mode

Your Interests & Preferences

I am a...

law firm lawyer
in-house company lawyer
litigation lawyer
law student
aspiring student
other

Website Look & Feel

 •  •  Dark Mode
Blog Layout

Save preferences

#InternJudge reactions: Altamas, Soli back AK Ganguly; Mamata doesn’t | Police waits for CJI, NUJS for 2014

Justice Kabir: Also shocked
Justice Kabir: Also shocked

The revelation that former Supreme Court Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly is the judge alleged to be at the heart of the apex court’s sexual harassment inquiry, has split commentators along political and institutional lines.

As soon as Ganguly’s name became public on Friday, he denied that he sexually harassed a former intern (“SJ”), saying that while SJ had interned with him, he was “shocked and shattered”, had always treated all interns like his children and that he was a “victim of situation”; on 17 November, before he was named as the accused, Ganguly had cast doubt on SJ’s story in a newspaper because it was made a year after the alleged incident had taken place, and “that too through a blog”.

The Chief Justice of India (CJI) P Sathasivam has not yet formally responded to the report produced by the committee, presided over by Justices RM Lodha, HL Dattu and Ranjana Prakash Desai.

Ex-CJI Kabir: ‘Law will take its course’

Former CJI Altamas Kabir, who retired from the bench in July 2013 nearly one-and-a-half years after Ganguly, on Friday commented to media on the sidelines of an event at NUJS Kolkata – which happens to be SJ’s alma mater and where Ganguly is an honorary professor.

Kabir also said that he was also “shocked and shattered” to hear about the allegation. “I don’t believe he can commit such an offence, I have worked with him for a long time,” Kabir told the Hindustan Times, while to The Hindu reported him as saying: “I know Asok da for a long time, he has been a member of the judiciary here... we have practised together… I would never believe this of him.”

“Allegations will always be made… The more people move higher up in their lives the more there are conspiracies against them. Allegations can be made anywhere against anybody. Does that mean he will have to resign [from his post as chairperson of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission]?”

On the issue of possible resignation, the TOI reported Kabir as saying:

“It is a very difficult question which only he can answer. The allegations will have to be sustained. As more things are happening, things are going out of hand. Day by day such things are getting more publicity than earlier. But they should be kept at a certain level…

… there should be some restraint on how things are handled [in such complaints]. Since Supreme Court has already formed a panel the entire matter should be left to them. Law will take its course.

“People's faith in the judicial system is intact and will always remain so,” added Kabir.

Ex-judge questions SC’s jurisdiction

However, ex-Delhi high court Justice RS Sodhi told the Hindustan Times that the panel’s authority was questionable: “A retired judge does not enjoy any protection under the law. The SC panel had no authority to look into his conduct. It’s a cognizable offence and should have been probed by the police…

“If Justice Ganguly has been exonerated, the insinuation must end and the reasons be made public. It means the girl was lying...then she should be prosecuted.”

Police waiting for CJI

A Delhi police source told The Telegraph that they were waiting for a nod from the CJI before starting an investigation, given that no formal complaint had been made to police by SJ yet, who they said had told the police that she was not interested in an inquiry parallel to the Supreme Court’s still-ongoing administrative process.

Soli Sorabjee: Against resignation

Meanwhile, former Attorney General of India Soli Sorabjee told CNN-IBN’s Karan Thapar that he didn’t think Ganguly should resign “because he says these allegations are baseless. Why should he… We are in the realm of accusations”:

“But if he says that I deny those allegations. In a court of law, Karan, very often a case which seems a winning case, an open and shut case turns out to be later.

[Thapar] Even if he denies its his word against the intern's word. Which is one reason why she was hesitant to go public to begin with.

[Sorabjee]: Suppose it transpires that these allegations were unfounded.

[Thapar]: You are giving him the benefit of doubt?

[Sorabjee]: Suppose that happens, should he resign now as chairman of the Human Rights Commission. If your logic is accepted, anyone in important position must resign when an allegation is made, which the man denies. I can understand admission. Yes sorry I did that. Dangerous precedent.

Political points: Trinamool wants AK G out of WB HRC

Several members of the West Bengal ruling Trinamool Congress party have come out strongly against Ganguly, having traditionally had a fraught relationship in part due to Ganguly’s chairmanship of the state’s human rights commission since his retirement, where he had criticised the Mamata Banerjee goverment for “several issues including the rising crime char”, reported Zee News.

Trinamool MP Kalyan Banerjee said: “[Ganguly] has no moral right to continue as the chief of the human rights panel. What he did is a big blot to the judicial system of the country and a person who himself is an accused should not be allowed to determine about others' rights.”

The TMC’s parliamentary party leader, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, told the New Indian Express:

“Given the public mood his continuation in the post has become untenable… How can he chair a human rights commission when he’s facing an inquiry for violation of a young woman’s rights, trust and dignity. What has made this really shocking is that he was a judge and this girl, who was yet to graduate as a law degree holder, was interning under him. The violation is on multiple levels — most importantly by a so-called esteemed person engaged with law.”

The paper wrote that “members of the legal fraternity, however, said the young intern’s blog on Ganguly was a ‘brave move’ and it has brought down the walls which no one dared to breach, in an indication of the changing times.”

NUJS VC: May investigate next year

The administration at SJ’s alma mater NUJS Kolkata, meanwhile, has shied away from any action so far. Vice-chancellor (VC) P Ishwara Bhat is said to be close to Ganguly, with the VC’s appointment in 2011 from Mysore University having been confirmed by a search committee, of which Ganguly was a member.

Bhat commented to the the Times of India that Ganguly is currently a honorary professor at NUJS, whose name was approved by the academic and executive councils and who is not remunerated for his lectures in constitutional litigation, which he taught last semester.

Ganguly may be discussed at the college’s next council meeting in January, Bhat said, adding that SJ had not filed any complaint with the university after she returned. “We also came to know about it from her blog. Though we tried to contact her, we have failed to do so,” he claimed. “If a student faces any untoward incident during internship, they must report it to the university.”

The story so far

SJ had said in an interview with Legally India on 11 November, that she had discussed the incident with members of her alma mater, hoping that Ganguly could have been de-listed from the recruitment process so that others.

A second intern with Ganguly had commented on Facebook on 11 November, applauding SJ for going public. She also claimed that after she had berated Ganguly for his alleged sexual harassment of SJ, the judge had promised never to “misbehave with another lady” again.

SJ had deposed before a three-member judicial inquiry looking into the matter, which held seven meetings, and submitted three affidavits, according to a court official’s statement on Friday.

[All previous Legally India #InternJudge stories]

AK G track record

The Times of India both summarised Ganguly’s achievements while on the bench, with TOI’s Dhananjay Mahapatra writing that for someone who “had built a reputation as a ‘protector of human rights’, and for whom corruption was like a red rag to a raging bull”, “there had seldom been any scrutiny of his other [non-judicial] activities”.

In a video interview the ANI recorded social activist Medha Patkar as saying that one needed to distinguish between the admirable socio-political achievements and personal life of an individual; Ganguly’s judgements had been superb and should continue to stand as some of the best of the apex court, irrespective of the allegations against him.

Click to show 8 comments
at your own risk
(alt+c)
By reading the comments you agree that they are the (often anonymous) personal views and opinions of readers, which may be biased and unreliable, and for which Legally India therefore has no liability. If you believe a comment is inappropriate, please click 'Report to LI' below the comment and we will review it as soon as practicable.