A day after a probe panel revealed that it was retired Supreme Court judge Ashok Kumar Ganguly against whom a law intern had filed a complaint of sexual harassment, the reaction of the legal fraternity here was mixed.
Male members of the Chennai Bar rejected the allegation, pointing to the intern’s humungous delay in making the charge. It is an attempt to spoil his image, they claimed. Women lawyers, however, asserted that he must be proceeded against if the allegation is true.
Ganguly’s stint in the Madras HC as its Chief Justice was very short - just seven months. He was transferred here from the Odisha High Court as chief justice and assumed office on May 19, 2008. Ganguly was elevated to the SC on Dec 17, the same year. He retired from the apex court in February, 2012. Now 67, Ganguly heads the West Bengal Human Rights Commission.
“He is a nice man,’’ said senior advocate R Gandhi. The allegation is very dangerous, having far reaching consequences. No advocate or judge will seek the assistance of women lawyers or take them as juniors. The unexplained and enormous delay of about one year is fatal to the case of the complainant,” Gandhi argued.
“It is better not to wash dirty linen in the open,’’ remarked another senior advocate K M Vijayan. The alleged victim of sexual harassment at the hands of the retired judge did not pursue her case. None of us knows what really happened. Except the aggrieved/affected person, no other third person or body can pursue the case. The issue in hand will have only gossip value,’’ he added.
“Justice Ganguly is not such a person,’’ said TN Bar Council chairman D Selvam. The allegation, made long after his retirement, indicates that it was made to degrade him,’’ he added.
“The issue requires proper investigation. If it is found to be a false one, the woman intern should be punished,’’ Madras High Court Advocates Association president R C Paul Kanakaraj said.
Noted lawyer Sudha Ramalingam said it was disheartening to see such things happening in judicial circles too. It is high time the Sexual Harassment Against Women at Work Places Act is notified, she added.
“How such things were happening even after the Supreme Court judgment in Vishakha case?” wondered Women Lawyers Association president D Prasanna. Concurring with Sudha Ramalingam’s call for notifying the Sexual Harassment Act, Prasanna added this will create fear to some extent in the minds of the perpetrators.
“It is a clear case of blackmail,” alleged ‘Traffic’ K R Ramaswamy, who frequented Justice Ganguly’s court when he was the Chief Justice here. Such attempts should not be encouraged,’’ he added.