A judge from Uttar Pradesh has written an open letter to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud alleging that she had been sexually harassed by a senior judge and his associates during her previous posting, and that she wants to end her life.
In the letter, she said that she had not even been able to secure a fair inquiry for herself, let alone justice.
On Friday, under the directions of Chief Justice Chandrachud, a communication was sent to the Allahabad High Court seeking the status of all the complaints filed by the judge, Bar and Bench reported.
The secretary general of the Supreme Court was informed on Thursday night that Acting Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Gupta of the Allahabad High Court has also taken cognisance of the matter.
The letter, released to the media on Thursday, reads: “I have been sexually harassed by one particular District Judge and his associates. I was told to meet the District Judge at night.”
The judge said she complained to the Allahabad High Court chief justice and the administrative judge in the High Court in 2022, but they did not take action. She added that she also complained to the High Court’s Internal Complaints Committee in July 2023. “It took 6 months and a thousand emails just to start an enquiry,” the letter read.
The judge further said that she demanded that the district judge be transferred while the inquiry pending, but her request was not accepted.
The complainant said that the witnesses in the case are subordinates of the district judge, and questioned how the committee expected them to “depose against their boss”.
She said: “The enquiry will now be conducted with the District Judge being in control of all the witnesses. We all know the fate of such an enquiry.”
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