The Wall Street Journal interviewed the intern (“SJ”) who alleged a former Supreme Court judge had sexually harassed her, and asked her why she didn’t file a formal complaint when the alleged assault took place in December 2012.

She said, according to edited excerpts given in the context of a longer feature about sexual harassment by the WSJ:

It took me time to come to terms with the fact that I had been assaulted. When I finally did, all that I wanted to do was to erase the memory from my conscious. This was a man I had admired, I looked up to him.

Indeed, I pondered over the idea of legal recourse, but feared it would do more harm than good. First, my case would’ve dragged on for years. Second, defense lawyers would make me relive every violating moment in court – something I wanted to bury at the time. Third, in cases of assaults, where there is no physical evidence, it’s one word against the other, really. There’s no reason why a law graduate would’ve won over a judge with a spotless record. Even now, for instance, when I appear before the panel, I feel I’m being looked at with suspicious eyes. I have to constantly justify that I’m not lying, I’m not making up this story. I feel humiliated.

It’s ironic I – being a lawyer – say this, but I don’t think Indian law, or our legal system for that matter, is equipped enough to sensitively deal with crimes against women.

SJ said she wrote the blog to “shine light on the day-to-day harassment in India’s courts” and to seek closure about the issue.

While she did not expect it to go viral, she told WSJ that she was happy about it catching “national attention” and spark broader debates:

Now, more and more people are questioning why they should put up with harassment – on the streets, in their homes, and at their workplaces. ‘Why should we bear with this? We haven’t done anything wrong,’ they say. […]

Women would fear they would be ostracized if they spoke out. What has changed now – after months and months of debate over sex crimes – is that women don’t pity themselves anymore. They feel there is a small group, a small segment of society that will stand by them. Of course, that number is still very small, but for those who have been at the receiving end, it means a great deal.

Full interview excerpts on WSJ.

SJ’s story hit the national headlines on Tuesday (12 November), after she wrote a blog post on 6 November and was interviewed by Legally India on 11 November. A second intern had apparently corroborated parts of SJ’s account on social media, as the Supreme Court launched an inquiry on 12 November.

SJ appeared before the confidential inquiry last week and is understood to have answered all its questions and has named the accused ex-judge to the committee, which emerged after unnamed sources claimed the opposite in several media reports.

The panel consists of Justices RM Lodha, HL Dattu and Ranjana P Desai.