3-judge panel says “insufficient material” against MP High Court judge accused of sexual harassment

Nearly a year after allegations of sexual harassment against a sitting High Court judge first appeared, a 3-judge panel has ruled that there is not enough evidence to substantiate the charges. The panel consisted of Allahabad Chief Justice Chandrachud, Delhi’s Chief Justice Rohini, and Rajasthan High Court’s Justice Ajay Rastogi..The report marks a possible end to accusations that first appeared in August last year, accusations made by a former district judge of Gwalior. On August 26 last year, the district judge had approached the Supreme Court seeking an enquiry into the allegations, and a quashing of the committee constituted by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Justice, MR Khanwilkar..The matter was eventually heard by a bench of Justices JS Khehar and Arun Mishra, with a number of big weights arguing the matter. Senior counsel Indira Jaising appeared for the district judge, Harish Salve for the MP High Court, and Kapil Sibal for the accused High Court judge..In December, the Supreme Court delivered its findings, a fairly critical view on the procedure adopted by the Madhya Pradesh Chief Justice, MR Khanwilkar. The court directed the re-initiation of the investigation, this time as per the “in-house procedure” framed by the court in C Ravichandran Iyer..Subsequently, a panel headed by then Chief Justice of Karnataka, DH Waghela investigated the matter and suggested a deeper enquiry. This is how the 3-judge panel headed by Chief Justice Chandrachud was formed. And it is this panel that has found “insufficient evidence” to find the High Court judge guilty of sexual harassment..At the same time, the panel has not completely exonerated the High Court judge. As per the Indian Express report, the panel has held that the judge was,.“ambivalent and evasive about facts which are within his knowledge”.Another report suggests that the district judge may challenge these findings, although it remains unclear as to whether any formal petition or writ has been filed before the Supreme Court. Perhaps the district judge is awaiting the findings of the second, parallel panel constituted by Vice President Hamid Ansari.