On Thursday, the Supreme Court ordered the reinstatement of a former Madhya Pradesh woman judge who resigned in 2014 after alleging sexual harassment by a High court judge.
The resignation of the judicial officer dated July 15, 2014, was deemed to “cannot be construed to be voluntary” by a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai.
The then Rajya Sabha Chairman and former vice president Hamid Ansari had formed a committee, which included Supreme Court Judge, Justice R Banumathi, Justice Manjula Chellur, and Senior Advocate K K Venugopal, to investigate the complaints levelled by the judicial officer against the HC judge.
The panel cleared the judge of the charges in its report. It did, however, find her transfer “unjustified” and suggested that she be reinstated if she ever wanted to rejoin.
After the High Court rejected her plea she went to the Supreme Court. The Bench of justices led by justice L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai ordered that she be reinstated as an Additional District and Sessions Judge with all attendant perks but it implied she would not be entitled to any back wages.
