A former additional district judge of Gwalior on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking a fresh inquiry into allegations of sexual harassment levelled by her against a High Court judge.
The petitioner wants the Supreme Court to quash an August 8 order of the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, setting up an inquiry committee to probe her allegations. Instead of the panel, she wants the Chief Justice of India to constitute a new committee comprising two Chief Justices from outside the Madhya Pradesh High Court, a High Court judge and a non-judicial member.
She urged the Chief Justice of India to comply with the house procedure adopted by a full court meeting of the Supreme Court on December 15, 1999, as per the Visakha guidelines on combating sexual harassment in the workplace.
The petition was mentioned before a Bench of Chief Justice R. M. Lodha, Justice Kurian Joseph and Justice Rohinton Nariman by senior advocate Indira Jaising.
The CJI’s Bench directed her to mention the case before another Bench led by Justice J.S. Khehar, who was, however, on leave. The petition was again mentioned before the CJI’s court post-lunch and was posted for hearing on Thursday before Justice Khehar’s court.
The former judge wants the Supreme Court to order appropriate action against the High Court judge whom she blames for harassment. She sought that no administrative or judicial work be assigned to him.
She said her transfer order on July 8, 2014, should be declared “unlawful, illegal, non est as also mala fide and with no force of law”.
She has also sought her re-instatement with consequential benefits.
Earlier, in a letter to the Chief Justice of India, she had detailed the way in which she was harassed by the High Court judge, who was also the administrative in-charge of Gwalior.
She has alleged that she was posted to a remote area after declining his sexual advances.
