Indian Supreme Court’s retired judge, Justice AK Ganguly, indicted for sexual harassment, repeatedly told a young intern that he loved her then followed her into an elevator urging her not to leave the hotel room where they were meant to be working.
This is what the young woman said in a signed statement to the three serving judges, as revealed by Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising.
Justice Ganguly has denied the charges and refused to quit as Chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission despite loud calls for his removal from Ms Jaising, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Sushma Swaraj and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Supreme Court has said it cannot take any action against him because he had retired from the top court when the sexual harassment took place, and it has no administrative control over former judges, a stand widely criticised by legal experts and women’s rights activists.
The encounter took place in December last year in a five-star hotel in Delhi. The intern was meant to help Justice Ganguly with a report. The capital at the time was witnessing massive protests by hundreds of young students against the fatal gang-rape of a woman on a moving bus.