Kolkata:
Pressure mounted on Justice AK Ganguly to resign today from the West Bengal Human Rights Commission with Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaisingh making public the affidavit of the law intern who has alleged sexual harassment by the former Supreme Court judge.
Within hours of Ms Jaisingh's revelation - which she said was done with the intern's consent - Law Minister Kapil Sibal said Mr Ganguly should quit at once. Mr Ganguly went, as usual, to his office. Outside it, there were some protests. He has questioned how a confidential document with the Supreme Court panel was made public.
Ms Jaisingh, reading from the affidavit, said, "These are her own words... At this point the judge approached me and standing next to me put his hand on my head and said, you are very beautiful. I immediately rose from my seat but before I had a chance to respond to the statement, he caught my arm saying, you know I am very attracted to you, don't you. You must be thinking this old man is getting drunk and saying such things but I really like you, I really love you. When I tried to move away, he kissed my arm and repeated that he loved me."
Within hours of the intern's affidavit to the Supreme Court panel becoming public, a modest protest by an outfit called the All India Legal Aid Forum erupted outside Justice Ganguly's Human Rights office in Kolkata and in Delhi the law minister called for his immediate resignation.
"I have no doubt. I think in that, light of the latest revelations by the Additional Solicitor General, which was published in a National Daily, I think it's time for Justice Ganguly to voluntarily submit his resignation. This is an exceptionally serious matter. Because I don't think that both he and the institution should have to suffer the ignominy for a removal procedure," Mr Sibal said.
Also, condemnation from senior BJP leader Arun Jaitely who blogged that "Justice Ganguly's decision to cling on to his office only establishes that even judges like most in the political positions continue to stick to their office till the intensity of public opinion forces them out."
Sushma Swaraj, said: "I want Supreme Court to inquire into Justice Ganguly's case and send the report to President right away. If Supreme Court doesn't want to inquire then President should use his powers and ask Justice Ganguly to resign immediately."
Justice Ganguly, who spent the day at his Kolkata office, remained incommunicado, except to tell a news agency, "the affidavit is supposed to be confidential as it was given before a Supreme Court committee. How can it come out in the open."
Ms Jaisingh has clarified that issue. "I have to tell you frankly clearly and unambiguously I am doing with her complete cooperation and keeping her in the loop. I would never make a document like this public unless I had her full support," she said.
One question emerging is, can the Delhi Police act now? No clear answers to that yet but Justice Ganguly is clearly under huge pressure to quit. The next step could well be the President's intervention.