Sexual harassment: Try accused judge under Vishaka Guidelines, says Indira Jaising

Former additional solicitor general of India Indira Jaising today said that parliamentarians should come forward to initiate impeachment proceedings against the Madhya Pradesh High Court judge who has been accused of sexual harassment by an additional district and sessions judge in Gwalior.

"The Chief Justice of India should also institute an internal enquiry and the accused judge should suspended from all work," Jaising told a press meet in Gwalior. She was also accompanied by other senior women lawyers.

Senior lawyer Indira Jaising.

A Zee News report said: "The group of lawyers have moved a resolution in the Supreme Court Bar Association seeking enquiry into the matter."

The former additional solicitor general of India also made it clear that the accused judge should face action as per the Vishaka Guidelines and the resignation of the woman judge should not be accepted. In 1997, the Supreme Court passed a landmark judgment in the Vishaka case laying down guidelines to be followed by establishments in dealing with complaints about sexual harassment at workplace.

"If her resignation is accepted it would be the blackest day in Indian judiciary," Jaising said.

Reacting to the allegations, the accused judge told NDTV, that he is "ready for the death sentence if found guilty". The judge also said that he has written to the chief justice of Madhya Pradesh offering to "face any probe by any committee".

The NDTV report also gave out chunks of the woman judge's resignation letter addressed to President Pranab Mukherjee, Chief Justice of India RM Lodha and Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad: "If this is how a mother, sister and wife can be treated, who is herself no less than a judicial officer duty-bound to protect society and law, what constitutional goals are we serving?"

"The administrative judge, along with district judge and district judge (inspection), possibly made a false, frivolous, baseless and malicious reporting to the chief justice of MP and got me transferred on July 8, in the mid-academic session of my daughters to a remote place Sidhi by overruling the transfer policy of MP HC."

"I was left with no option but to resign, so, I resigned on July 15 in compelling, humiliating and disgraceful circumstances to save my dignity, womanhood, self-esteem and career of my daughter."

India woke up to a shocking news this morning when a sitting high court judge was accused by an additional district and sessions judge in Gwalior.

According to a report in Times of India, the HC judge in question pestered his female colleague to visit his bungalow alone, perform an 'item number' for him and then transferred her to a remote district when she resisted his advances.