Chandigarh, January 16 : Justice Swatanter Kumar had denied the allegations made against him by a law intern from National University of Juridical Sciences [NUJS]. The intern made the complaint of alleged sexual harassment and stated that the stand taken by her fellow student against former Justice AK Ganguly encouraged her to come out with her complaint. The student had filed a formal complaint in December 2013.The important aspect in this allegation is that when the alleged incident took place the judge in this case was a sitting judge of the Supreme Court and the complainant was, officially, an intern in his office. However, in the case involving Justice Ganguly, who resigned two days ago, as chief of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission, when the alleged sexual harassment incident involving him took place, he had already retired from the apex court
Speaking about it, eminent Criminal Psychologist Anuja Kapur “In a country where judiciary has the absolute power and which is considered as the agents of justice. Women are portrayed as objects and are used as commodities in this sector too. Who will provide justice to women and hear her plight? ”
Various TV Channels and news papers had revealed the details of the affidavit filed by the intern before the Supreme Court. According to Indian Express “in her seven-page sworn affidavit that she sent to Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam on November 30, 2012, a copy of which has been obtained by The Indian Express, the woman has accused the former judge of “unwelcome physical contact and sexual advances” and has referred to instances when the judge allegedly touched her with what she calls sexual intent. She has also attached official emails to show that she interned with the judge as well as a ticket of the flight she took back to Kolkata on May 30, two days after she was allegedly sexually harassed for the second time. She says this was when she decided, after talking to her family, to quit the internship mid-way and return to her college.