Home Ministry begins consultations with Law Ministry over Justice Ganguly

New Delhi: The home ministry on Tuesday started consultations with the law ministry on the issue of demands for removal of former Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly, facing sexual harassment allegations, from the chairmanship of West Bengal Human Rights Commission. The consultations began after President President Pranab Mukherjee referred to the home ministry a letter by West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee seeking further action. [caption id=“attachment_1292321” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  AK Ganguly. PTI[/caption] If legal opinions suggest that prima facie a case can be made out, the government may suggest to the Supreme Court to constitute a committee to go into the allegations against Ganguly and give its recommendations. The government will also look into the issue whether a criminal case can be filed against Ganguly by Delhi Police. Banerjee has sought removal of Ganguly as the chairman of the state human rights commission after allegations of sexually harassing a law intern surfaced against him. The West Bengal chief minister had last week written her second letter to the President seeking “urgent appropriate action” against Ganguly. Ganguly, who retired from the apex court more than a year ago, was accused by the intern of sexually harassing her, a charge strongly denied by him, in a hotel room in Delhi last year. The chairman of State Human Rights Commission can only be removed on the orders of the President following the receipt of the Supreme Court’s inquiry report that would be vetted by the Union Cabinet. PTI