SC panel indicts Justice Ganguly in sexual assault case

The threejudge committee of the Supreme Court has concluded that the statement of the law intern who had complained against Justice A K Ganguly prima facie discloses an quotact of unwelcome behaviourquot and quotconduct of sexual naturequot on the part of the retired judge The Supreme Court however made it clear that no further follow up action is required by it in view of the fact that Justice Ganguly had demitted office on the date of the incidentDecember 24 last year quotWe have carefully scrutinized the statement written as well as oral of the intern the affidavits of her three witnesses and the statement of Mr Justice Retd A K Ganguly It appears to the Committee that in the evening on 24122012 she had visited hotel Le Meridien where Mr Justice Retd AK Ganguly was staying to assist him in his work This fact is not denied by Mr Justice Retd AK Ganguly in his statementu00a0 quotFurther the Committee is of the considered view that the statement of the intern both written and oral prima facie discloses an act of unwelcome behaviour unwelcome verbalnonverbal conduct of sexual nature by Mr Justice Retd AK Ganguly with her in the room in hotel Le Meridien on 24122012 approximately between 800 PM and 1030 PMquot said the operative portion from the report Justice AK Ganguly A twopage statement issued by the Chief Justice of India Justice P Sathasivam disclosed the name of the intern but in keeping with the legal requirements and media policy followed in such cases PTI is not mentioning her name in this news itemu00a0 Justice Sathasivam said considering the fact that the said intern was not an intern on the roll of the Supreme Court and that the concerned Judge had already demitted office on account of superannuation on the date of the incident no further follow up action is required by this Courtu00a0 The CJI said on account of the fact that a report appeared in the media on the alleged aberration that it was quotSupreme Court Judgequot the Committee was constituted and it has submitted its Report quotAs decided by the Full Court in its meeting dated 5th December 2013 it is made clear that the representations made against former Judges of this Court are not entertainable by the administration of the Supreme Courtquot the CJI39s statement said The Secretary General was directed to supply a copy of the Report of the committee to the intern and Justice Ganguly The committee comprising justices R M Lodha H L Dattu and Ranjana Prakash Desai was constituted by Sathasivam after media reports on November 12 that quota recently retired judgequot misbehaved with a law intern Without naming the judge she had written in a blog that when the country was discussing the December 16 rape incident in the capital she had undergone a traumatic experience at the hands of a judge who made advances to her The CJI said that taking cognizance of the fact that such allegation against a Supreme Court Judge will have a direct bearing on the institution39s reputation and credibility he had on the same day appointed the threemember committee to ascertain the truth of the allegations The Committee having scrutinized the statements of the intern the affidavits of her three witnesses and Mr Justice AK Ganguly former Judge of this Court submitted its Report on 28th November 2013 The intern had appeared before the committee last month followed by the judge Justice Ganguly who is now the chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission has denied the allegation against him and said he has been shocked and shattered Ever since the controversy erupted there have been demands for action against him and that he should quit from his post