On a day the demand of resignation of Justice (retd.) Asok Kumar Ganguly from the post of chairman of West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) was raised in the Lok Sabha, the retired Supreme Court judge maintained here on Friday that he is not quitting from the post.
Asked by The Hindu for his reactions to the developments in Parliament, Justice Ganguly said, “I do not know what has happened and I have no comments on it.”
As for his stand regarding the demand for his resignation as chairman of the State human rights panel, he said it had not changed.
“My earlier stand is that I am not resigning and I am not thinking about resigning,” Justice Ganguly said.
The former Supreme Court Judge, who has been WBHRC chairman since April 2012, had also denied the allegations after a three-judge panel of the apex court held that allegations of sexual harassment against him by a woman law intern prima facie disclose an act of “unwelcome behaviour”.
“I am denying the allegations and I am shocked and shattered at it,” was his response on December 5 when the Supreme Court made its remarks over the allegations public.
Despite the demands for his resignation made in certain quarters, leaders of different political parties and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee writing to President Pranab Mukherjee twice seeking his removal from the post, Justice Ganguly has been attending office at the WBHRC.
According to officials of the Commission, he engaged himself in his work and went through several files during the day.
Earlier this week, on December 10, Justice Ganguly as WBHRC chairperson had also hosted an event to mark World Human Rights Day in the city where former Speaker of the Lok Sabha Somnath Chatterjee and certain sitting and retired Judges of the Calcutta High Court participated. There he pointed out that “those who uphold the (human) rights have also to fight by paying a price”.
