Now, the police can take suo motu action

The least that Justice AK Ganguly can do after the Supreme Court panel of three judges has indicted him for sexual misconduct with an intern is to resign as head of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission.

The panel’s finding now in public domain is the operative part of the order and not the complete text. We do not know how much of the evidence that was presented to them by the intern and the deposition of the intern’s friends with whom she shared as to what had happened.

The court panel has done what it could. It is an internal inquiry and its findings do not amount to a judicial verdict. The panel could not have provided relief to the complaint by issuing a directive to the police to initiate proceedings against Justice Ganguly. It is now for the intern to file a first information report (FIR) with a police station. Even the police can initiate action, suo motu.

The name of the complainant was mentioned in the panel’s findings because she was the one who had waived off the anonymity clause when she wrote about it in her blog. It would not be right to say that the court’s panel comprising three judges did not show sensitivity in the matter.

Justice Ganguly should quit because he has failed to live up to the high standards he was expected to maintain as head of the state human rights commission. People holding high positions are expected to maintain higher standards and he has failed to do so.

(As told to Kanu Sarda)
The author is a senior advocate in Delhi High Court