Judge gets court relief in harassment case

A senior sitting judge of the labour court in Surendranagar district, who had been facing sexual harassment allegations by a lawyer, recently received High Court reprieve, when it quashed proceedings against him, concluding that initiating proceedings based on oral representation alone will contradict the very guidelines laid down by the court itself.

The first division bench of chief justice R Subhash Reddy and justice Vipul Panholi, while disposing of the petition filed on June 22, 2017, by Girish Soni, also quashed and set aside a departmental inquiry, which was initiated against him based on an order passed by the Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaint Committee in Rajkot District Court. The order was passed after the woman made an oral complaint before the committee.

The court observed, “In the absence of a written complaint, initiating disciplinary proceedings pursuant to an oral representation made are contrary to the rules and norms laid down in other identical cases.”

The court also noted, “The action is also in contradiction with a circular issued by this very court in April 2017, according to which it is mandatory for any complaint to be supported by an affidavit.”