No FIR lodged against J. AK Ganguly; Investigation against former SC judge stayed due to lack of adequate material

The Ministry of Home Affairs, responding to BJP leader Subramanium Swamy’s letter, has clarified that there are no investigations currently underway against Justice AK Ganguly. The MHA has stated that no investigations were being carried out because there was a lack of adequate evidence and also because “the woman complainant has not joined the inquiry”. .The former judge of the Supreme Court was accused of sexually harassing a law intern, following which the Supreme Court set up a 3-judge inquiry committee to look into the charges..Even though the committee did not come out with any conclusive finding on the allegation, it did say that there was “prima facie act of unwelcome behaviour“. Whether the 3-judge committee had any jurisdiction to hear the complaint itself, and what this “prima facie” finding actually meant were questions that were left unanswered. Citing that the Supreme Court did not have the jurisdiction to hear complaints against retired judges of the Supreme Court, the then Chief Justice sought to wash his hands off the matter..Justice Ganguly eventually resigned from the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, where he was the chairperson, but not before there were allegations that this was a “malicious campaign” against the judge. Following his resignation, there were several senior counsels who publicly stated that they would no longer be hiring women interns..Soon thereafter, another complaint of sexual harassment was made against a former Supreme Court judge, Swatanter Kumar. This time though, the complaint was in relation to an incident that allegedly took place while the accused was a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. The current head of the National Green Tribunal, Justice Kumar subsequently moved the Delhi High Court in a defamation suit against the intern as well as news channels that had published his image while reporting the allegations..Although an application to transfer the matter to another court has been filed by the intern, the matter is still currently pending before the Delhi High Court..Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.