NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday suggested that a former district judge in Madhya Pradesh, who had resigned after alleging sexual harassment by a high court judge, could be reinstated.
Hearing the former judge’s plea seeking reinstatement, CJI S A Bobde said the woman judge could be transferred to some other court. The former judge agreed to this.
“There is too much animosity in the earlier place. Kindly accept my suggestion to keep me anywhere in the northern part of India,” the former judge told the bench through senior lawyer Indira Jaising.
In 2014, the former judicial officer had alleged that Justice S K Gangele, her then supervisor judge, sent her a message through the district court registrar to dance to an item song at a function at his residence.
She was subsequently transferred from Gwalior to Sidhi, leading her to resign as an additional district and sessions judge on July 15, 2014. Her July 2018 plea for reinstatement in the SC came six months after a Rajya Sabha-constituted panel dismissed the sexual harassment allegations.
During the hearing, Jaising told the bench as to how she was compelled to resign after her transfer as her daughter was in Class 12 and was due for her board exams. On this, CJI Bobde said the dispute should end now as situations have changed drastically.