New Delhi:
The former law intern who accused former Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly of sexual harassment has hit back at him for denying the charge and calling it revenge for his past judgements.
"At this stage, I believe that anyone claiming that my statements are false is showing disrespect not just to me, but also to the Supreme Court of India," the former intern has said in a blog posted on the website Legally India, which rebuts
Justice Ganguly's letter to the Chief Justice of India on Monday.
"Those who have been spreading rumours and politicizing the issue, are doing so out of prejudice and malice to obfuscate the issue and escape scrutiny and accountability," she says.
(Read former law intern's blog against Justice Ganguly's conspiracy claims)The woman has said in a signed statement that at a hotel room in Delhi last December, Justice Ganguly told her he loved her and suggested that she share his room with him (
read intern's statement). Justice Ganguly has claimed it was "a cordial meeting followed by dinner."
Three Supreme Court judges who investigated the allegation said there was evidence of "unwelcome verbal/non-verbal conduct of sexual nature" by the judge.
The former intern says she was told that the National University of Juridical Sciences, where she was studying at the time, had no policy on sexual harassment of interns.
She says she was reluctant to file a police complaint, but blogged about the incident as she felt it was "important to warn young law students that status and position should not be confused for standards of morality and ethics."
In what is being seen as a hint at future police action, she says, "I request that it be acknowledged that I have the discernment to pursue appropriate proceedings at appropriate times."
The former intern says she authorised Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising to make her affidavit public after "many eminent citizens and legal luminaries continued to deride the committee's findings, and malign me."
Justice Ganguly, in his letter to Chief Justice P Sathasivam, said "I never harassed nor did I make any unwelcome advances to any female intern." (
read Justice Ganguly's full letter)
He has refused to quit as the Chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, but the government is exploring a presidential reference for his removal.