"Sexual Harassment allegations cannot be brushed under the carpet like this:" Supreme Court refuses to entertain plea by Madhya Pradesh judge

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to entertain a plea filed by a Madhya Pradesh district judge seeking to quash disciplinary proceedings against him following a sexual harassment complaint by a junior judicial officer (Shambhoo Singh Raghuvanshi v. The High Court of Madhya Pradesh)..While doing so, Chief Justice of India SA Bobde noted that "sexual harassment allegations cannot be brushed aside under the carpet.".The Court had earlier expressed its disinclination to quash the disciplinary proceedings initiated by the Madhya Pradesh High Court against senior district judge Shambhoo Singh Raghuvanshi, against whom a sexual harassment complaint was lodged after he sent inappropriate messages to a junior judicial officer..While rejecting to hear his plea today, the CJI said,"You are walking on very thin ice. You may have a chance that you may be acquitted. But as matters stand now, you are convicted. Sexual harassment allegations cannot be brushed under the carpet like this.".When the petitioner judge requested the Court to allow him to approach another forum, the Bench of CJI Bobde and Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian stated that there was no res judicata against him.."There is no res judicata. Let there be res judicata finding and we will see. Allowed to withdraw with liberty to approach correct forum," the Court said..The top court took this stance despite the fact that the junior judicial officer had withdrawn her complaint under the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act)..Senior Advocate Ravindra Shrivastava, appearing on behalf of the High Court, had said that the accused judge had accepted that he had sent the WhatsApp messages and that such conduct would make the atmosphere inconducive for judicial work. Shrivastava further said that the High Court’s departmental proceedings are independent of the POSH complaint..The sexual harassment complaint against Singh was lodged in 2018. He had earlier approached the Supreme Court to quash the disciplinary proceedings initiated by the High Court, but the top court had declined to entertain the same, asking him to approach the High Court instead..After the High Court refused to entertain his plea, Raghuvanshi once again approached the apex court, which stayed the disciplinary proceedings against the judge in September last year.