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 (“SJ”).
Another intern to the judge (the “Second Intern”) published her account on social media on the evening of Monday, 11 November 2013, under her own name.
The Second Intern was not reachable and did not respond to requests for comment or agree to disclosure of her identity. However, Legally India reliably understands that she was also an intern of the same judge with whom SJ had interned.
The Second Intern wrote in a Facebook comment in a discussion on Monday evening that she had herself been “at the receiving end of unsolicited sexual advance [sic] more than once”. However, after confronting the judge with SJ’s allegation he promised “that he would never misbehave with another lady”, according to the Second Intern’s social media post. (see below)
The initial allegations were made on 6 November in a blog post by SJ, in which she was trying to come to terms with the experience, explaining in detail her decision on why she had decided to share it publicly (“I felt I had a responsibility to ensure that other young girls were not put in a similar situation”) while at the same time deciding not to name the judge and bring a formal complaint against him (“I bore, and still bear, no real ill-will towards the man, and had no desire to put his life’s work and reputation in question”).
SJ expanded upon her blog post in an interview with Legally India on the afternoon of Monday 11 November, revealing that she had heard of “three other cases [of sexual harassment] by the same judge and I know of at least four other girls who’ve faced harassment from other judges - not perhaps as [bad as mine]: most of them were in the chambers of the judge and other people around, so it never gets too bad.”
“A girl I know faced continuous sexual harassment throughout and sexual advances, and actually faced troubles through her work because of it,” said SJ.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court constituted a three-member committee of judges to look into the allegations after the story made national newspaper and TV headlines, with SJ having been requested to appear before the inquiry on Monday.
Update 15 November, 2:28am: The Second Intern’s post appeared on Facebook as a comment in an online discussion surrounding a public note on SJ’s blog post, which was made by NUJS Kolkata professor Shamnad Basheer on Monday. Since the first publication of this article, the Second Intern’s comments have been deleted from the comment thread on Facebook, in order to protect her identity and privacy, so we can now provide a link to the Facebook thread in which the comment was made.
The Second Intern had written in her Facebook comment:
The funny part is, it was very likely that i would have been the person in [SJ]’s place. I’ve been at the receiving end of unsolicited sexual advance more than once , and so has she [SJ]. And we kept attributing all the signs of leeriness to our hypersensitivity to such situations, mistrusting our instincts. We discussed innocuously said off colour remarks and dismissed their creepiness because we really respected him [the judge], and the possibility seemed at odds with everything we knew about him, his ideas about feminism, patriarchy, social justice...
If only the world was so uncomplicated that you could tell the bad guys from the good guys with a glance. If we weren’t women in a man’s world, we wouldn't need to explain why we didn’t do what the women in Anurag Kashyap’s short film [link] did. You can’t go around beating up your uncles and cousins without risking your family's wellbeing. There’s something at stake which is perhaps important to the people who you care about, even if it isn’t important to you. Like your own life.
In any case, violence is such an easy reaction. And how has that solved the world’s problems, pray? Of course, Mr. Justice lost his RA’s [research assistants], he also got a good talking to, a brushing down that his father should have given him, which he received from a 23 year old girl... And maybe, maybe that is a better route? Not necessarily violent, but not voiceless. Being lawyers, we understand not only the value of being litigious, but also when litigiousness is a handicap, when better results might be achieved without invoking law’s violence to one’s aid, when negotiations and personal confrontations might be better, and when informal means are more useful to achieve the ends we seek.
In this case, we spoke to other women who had worked with him and found out that there was a history to such behaviour. (Perhaps it's a psychological problem, who knows? Some neediness issues.) We also alerted some female senior faculty to the incident so that they would ensure that no female student was assigned work with him without being told to be on her guard.
Why deprive girls from the chance to work with an illustrious mind because the mind is a little sick? A guy who gets the task would get a savvy CV and a better job opp. We didn't want girls to be left at a disadvantage.
After all, maybe his fear of our possible relash could have disciplined him into better behaviour.
He promised, incidentally, that he would never misbehave with another lady. Maybe it's naiveté to believe him. Maybe it’s just youthful optimism. Being brave is tougher than it appears on the face of it, no? [… SJ] has oodles of courage.
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something does not sit right about this account.
Kian, Can you direct us to this social media post so we can read the entire post?
Her account is pretty much re-produced in its entirity above, however. The sequence of events, I reliably understand, is that the Second Intern gave the ex-judge a direct and unequivocal verbal dressing down, after SJ told her what happened.
Quoting from the post above, in her own words: "he also got a good talking to, a brushing down that his father should have given him, which he received from a 23 year old girl..."
It is not inconceivable for an honourable judge, whatever his alleged personal failings, to have felt genuinely sorry and embarrassed by the confrontation and by what happened, and that he ended up expressing this sentiment.
Do we have to prove by going to Galileo Galilei time, That sun rises in East and sets in west?
Well do we all want to taste poison? Well if the answer is "No"
More than one person has proved w/o damaging the reputation
Now its for the Bar Council to decide further course of action by introducing checks and balances so these things are not repeated and reputation is not further dented
The other day i was speaking to a Diplomat... who pointed out how Indian Judiciary works
Regards
AL, United Nations, Vienna
On your response, I cannot understand why you would describe such a man as "honorable" and it is not a matter of his personal failing, the complaints are of at least one sexual assault and of multiple repetitive instances of sexual harassment.
And we are to believe that such a man expressed genuine regret!
He would certainly have been embarrassed and alarmed by the confrontation.
However, I still find the account strange, though it does confirm the account of Stella James.
I strongly believe this website should name the judge. He does not deserve to be protected in any manner.
Strongly disagree with the above. A SC Committee has been set up to investigate the allegations. People from Stella's batch are aware who the judge was. There is no reason to name the judge yet. Kudos to what Stella has done, it really would have taken some guts but I suggest till time the allegations are established, the name of the judge and even the second intern should be kept private.
Your request sounds more like hunger for gossip rather than bona fide concern.
The question is one of rule of law. A retired or even a sitting judge is not entitled to privacy as far as naming him as accused in a sexual assault case is concerned.
Why is the retired judge getting this favorable treatment that violates Article 14?
Why a secret and confidential inquiry by siting judges? what legal authority do these judges have to investigate a sexual assault complaint against a retired judge.
In the legallyindia interview, SJ has mentioned that more than one SC judge was accused of sexual harassment. How do we know that [...] or [...] are not among that list?
The gossip is in any case going on, with several names of retired judges being mentioned. So why not name the actual accused?
Well i have a Question for ML Sharma? are you for Sexual H or Against Sexual H, if it would have been your dauther or wife?
Avinash Lewis
UN, Vienna Austria
Now the Judiciary is paid from our taxes and We wonder have the offenders read in school "freedom of speech" "freedom of expression" if yes they should not be in that posts, should be relived immidately
"freedom of expression" is Human right under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and recognized in international human rights law in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Article 19 of the ICCPR states that "[e]veryone shall have the right to hold opinions without interference" and "everyone shall have the right to freedom of expression; this right shall include freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers, either orally, in writing or in print, in the form of art, or through any other media of his choice". Article 19 goes on to say that the exercise of these rights carries "special duties and responsibilities" and may "therefore be subject to certain restrictions" when necessary "[f]or respect of the rights or reputation of others" or "[f]or the protection of national security or of public order (order public), or of public health or morals".
Regards
Avinash Lewis
UN
"In any case, violence is such an easy reaction. And how has that solved the world’s problems, pray? Of course, Mr. Justice lost his RA’s [research assistants], he also got a good talking to, a brushing down that his father should have given him, which he received from a 23 year old girl... And maybe, maybe that is a better route? Not necessarily violent, but not voiceless. Being lawyers, we understand not only the value of being litigious, but also when litigiousness is a handicap, when better results might be achieved without invoking law’s violence to one’s aid, when negotiations and personal confrontations might be better, and when informal means are more useful to achieve the ends we seek."
This is not the appropriate response to sexual assault or sexual harassment.
I certainly believe that "law's violence" i.e., a criminal investigation and prosecution should be used against a man who prima facie is found to be a serial molester/ sexual harasser and someone who has committed sexual assault.
Sexual offenders target perceived weak victims, so even if the second intern was strong enough to confront the judge, this does not protect all future potential victims, some of whom might not be able to withstand the pressure ...
"It took a lot of thinking for me to get to this point. I actually think I was making myself angry because it is the expected reaction. But when I wrote this piece I forced myself to be honest with myself. And I realized that it doesn’t matter what others say, whether they have experienced something similar or not. I wrote it because I realized that NO ONE has the right to take away my agency. I am the only one that can decide how to react to a situation of sexual harassment, and nobody (feminist or not, but especially feminists) has the right to tell me what to think or how to feel about the situation."
Well i should say you are Bang right!
We need people who can speak up, about Injustice thats what the Institution of Judiciary should be madeup of not otherwise
Regards
Avinash Lewis
United Nation, HQ Vienna, Austria
@ kian and the above post author.
I can totally related to the thought process that went behind not disclosing the identity of the second intern. What Kian and his team are doing is not gossiping. Therefore, I disagree, strongly to your criticism of Kian's journalism
Second, what Kian and team are doing is not gossiping, lets remember this is a SC judge we are talking about here. The fact is had girls like these not come out with their experiences, it would have continued. And "that" would have resulted in gossiping. Not what the girls or Kian is doing.
Third, lets accept this, we are not a society that respects women with the kind of respect west does. Please don't discourage girls from coming out in the open with the harassment they face. No person would sexually harass girl in public. He wants privacy and the lack of witness hurts girl at two levels, one they face harassment and two people question their version.
I have heard Kian speak at many occasions, from his accent it would appear that his education etc has been western. If he and his team can get a bit of respect for women as is there is west, in the legal fraternity, that itself would be the single biggest achievement for all of us.
Go Kian and legallyindia.
@ Kian the post gets deleted and you still run with this. Are you or your 'source'deposing before the commission any time soon?
The aim of this story was to put on the public record a second person's account that corroborates parts of the story of SJ, which is important in such cases that can easily devolve into he-said-she-said battles.
I have confirmed the identity of the Second Intern and that she has been an intern to the same former judge. Therefore, her account is relevant to the story and worth re-reporting, even if when making the comment, she wasn't apparently intending for it to be re-published in the wider media or if she has now deleted it after it has been reported.
The initial comment was made responding to a note that was accessible to anyone registered on Facebook, which means that the original publication, even if not consciously intended as such, was in effect a comment made in public.
And in such a case we should not question the veracity or intention of statements merely because someone might not be ready to come forward publicly and give media interviews: the identities of victims of sexual offences are protected by the courts for many very good reason.
And the difficulties in coming forward about such cases should be similarly evident from the very low rates of reporting, conviction or action.
Best regards,
Kian
Anyway I forgive you now that the debate has changed. ;)
I hope you'll learn.
Good luck.
If someone's Facebook post is put on "Public" sharing instead of "Friends" or "Friends of Friends", one has all the rights to share it. And Public is not the default mode. So you voluntarily give up your privacy when you change the mode.
Really? Doesn't this reason or explanation, whatever you may choose to call it, undermine the seriousness of the issue? A man of such high repute and achievements should not be taken to task only because his illustrious position outweighs his misbehaviour! I am sorry I don't want to hurt yours or anyone's feelings but I found this strange.
The Second Intern’s comments have been deleted from the comment thread on Facebook since first publication of this article, in order to protect the Second Intern's identity and privacy.
Below is the Facebook note that the comments referred to, to clarify the context in which they were made:
www.facebook.com/notes/shamnad-basheer/retributive-reflection/10100644314061619
On using the Second Intern's Facebook comments in publication, we thought long and hard about whether publication in this case was in the public interest and decided that it was, if she wasn't named and her identity was protected.
In terms of Facebook, unless something is explicitly marked as private, Facebook treats it as public to the world under its terms, making such comments not much different from a public blog post. So despite what some people may (erroneously) think, I do not believe there can be any reasonable expectation of privacy for things posted publicly on Facebook.
If you disagree, I think that may be a case to take up with Facebook, which could educate its users better about the privacy settings and implications, or make these more accessible.
Best regards,
Kian
1. Marginalisation of views of young lawyers and students of top law schools in liberalization debate
2. Corruption in law schools by VCs
3. Educational reforms
4. Low salaries paid by advocates
You have provided fodder to the hungry media which is waiting to malign the judiciary and legal fraternity.
The burden of proof in a criminal case is 'beyond reasonable doubt', which is a very high threshold to be able to meet before a court. Even if there are, say two or three people or witnesses giving corroborating accounts, the cards are stacked against the accusers under aggressive cross-examination, character smears and other strategies the defending counsel would likely roll out for their client.
Look at the Asaram Bapu case, for instance - if I remember rightly, defending counsel Ram Jethmalani claimed that the alleged victim suffered from a chronic disease "which draws a woman to a man".
www.ndtv.com/article/india/asaram-bapu-case-teen-has-disease-which-draws-a-woman-to-a-man-says-ram-jethmalani-419882
The sad fact is that in a criminal case, the cards are stacked against the accuser who will need more than just courage to get through what is guaranteed to be an ordeal. Everyone involved in this case, being lawyers, would be very much aware of that, I assume.
This must be a test case. This kind of case is exactly what this country needs, to show that even the most powerful men will not be permitted to assault women.
Anything less than a criminal case will be a cover-up.
Am sure enough lawyers will stand with SJ and the other victims to help blunt the ordeal. These women are heroes and deserve a medal. WE need to tell them not to be afraid instead of sending the message that they should be ...
@ Kian: I am very impressed with the way you are handling some stupid insensitive comments made by creatures who pass as mortals (and, presumably, lawyers at that!). I remain a fan (even when I bash LI on some occasions, I do it as a fan :D).
Kian, while your sympathies with the victim are well appreciated, let us not start questioning age-old criminal law jurisprudence. "Innocent unless proven guilty" is the BEDROCK of not just the rule of law, it is the bedrock of democracy. Hence, whether you like it or not, the ex SC judge is as of now as innocent or as guilty as you are.
As far as strategies adopted by defence counsel are concerned, they would only be doing their job. Right to be defended by a counsel of one's choice is as much of a fundamental right as is the right not to be violated - physically or otherwise.
Avinash Lewis
UM, Vienna
Make an arrangement of PRESS CONFERNCE , I will make all the papers in public on NUJS EX-VC and EX-EC AND EC-SC with letters to EX-Chancellor of NUJS who yried to protect the EX-VC and EX-EC of NUJS
Go the website of Outlook. They have disclosed the identity.
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