The judicial inquiry into allegations that retired Justice AK Ganguly sexually harassed a former intern (“SJ”), has found “merit” in the allegations, reported the Times of India today, writing:
According to sources, the conclusion of the fact-finding committee comprising Justices R M Lodha, H L Dattu and Ranjana Prakash Desai, after examining statements of both the law graduate and the retired judge and going through evidence tendered by her, supports the complainant's version.
The TOI reported yesterday that Ganguly, who was staying in a Delhi five star hotel conducting an inquiry for the All India Football Federation (AIFF) in December 2012, had offered SJ wine before sexually harassing her:
In her affidavit, [SJ] gave a detailed account of how the retired judge made advances towards her despite her clear and vocal disapproval of his conduct. She alleged that after she rushed out of the hotel room, the retired judge followed her down to the lobby uttering apologies… The law graduate claimed that she had evidences to back her allegations.
After the apex court released his name last Friday, Ganguly denied that he had sexually harassed any interns and said he was a “victim of circumstance”. He also said on Tuesday that he had not yet taken a decision on whether he would step down as chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC).
SJ had first blogged about the alleged incident on 6 November, saying that she faced “sexual assault (not physically injurious, but nevertheless violating) from a man old enough to be my grandfather”. In an interview with Legally India on 11 November, she explained that she and other interns had been harassed by an unnamed former Supreme Court judge, which was partially corroborated by a second former intern of Ganguly’s on Facebook. The second intern also claimed that after berating Ganguly for his alleged sexual harassment of SJ, the judge had promised never to “misbehave with another lady” again.
The Chief Justice of India (CJI) P Sathasivam convened an inquiry on 12 November as Attorney General of India Goolam Vahanvati filed a petition to take cognisance of the matter.
Additional solicitor general Indira Jaising and senior counsel Anand Grover, both co-founders of the Lawyers Collective NGO, filed an amicus curiae brief on 18 November, requesting the SC to comply with Vishaka guidelines in its investigation and to request other victims to depose confidentially.
A criminal investigation, following a complaint by a former Delhi University law dean, is currently pending with the Delhi police.
See full chronology of developments in the #InternJudge story here