Justice Ganguly quits as West Bengal Human Rights Commission chairman

, Jan 6: Former Supreme Court judge

quit as the chief of West Bengal Human Rights Commission after meeting state Governor M K Narayanan, said sources. Ganguly was accused of sexually harassing a law intern in 2012.

Justice Ganguly had met a former attorney general on whether he should quit.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed two petitions on the controversy. A bench of the apex court comprising Justice P Sathasivam and Justice Ranjan Gogoi dismissed the two public interest litigations (PILs), one filed by Dr M Padma Narayan Singh who sought quashing of the complaint on the basis of which a three-member panel of the apex court judge indicted the retired judge and the other by Uday Gupta, an advocate, who sought registration of a case against Ganguly.

The retired judge submitted his resignation to West Bengal Governor on Monday

The bench said it was too early for it to interfere in the issue and added that law would take its own course. Singh, a senior citizen, alleged that Ganguly was victimised in the conspiracy of a prominent football club in Kolkata.

Last month, a committee of three Supreme Court judges found the former judge guilty of sexually harassing a woman intern at a five-star hotel in Delhi in December 2012.

The panel indicted him for what it called "unwelcome behaviour" and "conduct of sexual nature" towards the woman but said no action could be taken as Justice Ganguly had retired before the incident.

But the 66-year-old former judge has been under intense political pressure to step down since allegations against him surfaced in the intern's blog two months ago. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee twice, seeking his removal.

Last week, the Union Cabinet had cleared a request for a Presidential reference to the Supreme Court to forcibly remove Justice Ganguly. Sources say he didn't want to face the embarrassment of a Presidential reference.

OneIndia News