Additional Solicitor-General Indira Jaising, who spearheaded the move for removal of Justice A.K. Ganguly as Chairperson of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, on Monday said that by quitting the post he maintained the integrity of the office and the institution he occupied.
Speaking to The Hindu , Ms. Jaising said: “For me, the institution is more important than the individual. This is not a personal issue for me. It was a matter concerning the dignity of women, law clerks, law interns and how people should behave with their female staff members. The whole issue has set a benchmark for what people should do and not to do.”
Supreme Court Bar Association president P.H. Parekh said: “Under the circumstances, I think Justice Ganguly has done the right thing, otherwise he would have had to face the unpleasant and adverse criticism in the media.”
Mr. Parekh said “Justice Ganguly was a good judge, known for his integrity and judicial independence” but in a situation like this he had to avoid litigation.
Bar Council of India Co-Chairman S. Prabakaran, however, regretted that Justice Ganguly was forced to succumb to pressure. “It is a mockery of law and will send a bad signal to the judiciary as due process of law has not been followed. The resignation of Justice Ganguly will virtually amount to a threat to his integrity and personal reputation. It is really shocking that when the law intern chose not to file a police complaint even after one year [of the alleged incident], Justice Ganguly’s image has been tarnished among the public.”
In future, judges would be afraid of acting independently as Justice Ganguly had done in deciding the 2G spectrum case “as the sword of Damocles will be hanging over their heads.”
