Retired Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly
The big guns are out against Justice AK Ganguly demanding he quit as chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission.
Also drawing fire: the Supreme Court panel that washed its hands off the matter after saying there was prima facie evidence of Justice Ganguly's unacceptable behavior with the intern.
The Delhi police today emailed the intern asking her to record a statement but she has not replied yet. Justice Ganguly has been incommunicado. He is on leave and did not go to the West Bengal Human Rights Commission office.
This morning, clearly nearing the end of his tether, Justice Ganguly shouted at reporters posted outside his house. "Don't disturb me, don't disturb me," he said, "I have tolerated enough."
Mamata Banerjee, too, had had enough. Last night, she said on Facebook that she had written to the President of India asking him to take "appropriate action urgently for the grave misconduct committed by Retd Justice AK Ganguly. Strong action is essential at this moment."
The President can sack the chairman, an issue Ms Banerjee and Pranab Mukherjee may have discussed when they met in Kolkata today. One of her MPs even suggested impeachment. Asked what the Trinamool would do if Justice Ganguly doesn't step down, Kalyan Banerjee said, "It is not for the Trinamool Congress to do. It is for the parliament to do for the impeachment."
Law minister Kapil Sibal dismissed the possibility as only a sitting judge can be impeached but he certainly turned the heat on Supreme Court. "The Supreme Court ought to have taken it forward on the judicial side and treated him like any other person," he said.
"We all know that ultimately the infallible are also ordinary mortals... and this is a case where the dignity of a woman is involved. ...why did they wash their hands off the matter? The Supreme Court must rise to the occasion to protect the woman's dignity," Mr Sibal said.
For once, Opposition leader Arun Jaitley agreed. He wrote on Facebook today, "Supreme Court... cannot follow an escapist route and hold that on the administrative side it has no jurisdiction. The Supreme Court is fully empowered on the Judicial side to ensure that the law takes its own course."
The only movement in the case today, as it were, is an email sent by Delhi Police to the intern to record her statement. Last heard the intern had not mailed back.
In the past she had said she did not wish to pursue the matter legally. Whether she is now going to change her mind is the big question. But for Justice Ganguly, the options are clearly running out.