Justice Ganguly 'shocked and shattered' by sexual harassment charge

Stating that he was shocked and shattered by the allegations of sexual harassment that had been levelled against him, Justice (retd) AK Ganguly claimed that this was a trend that could affect the functioning of honest judges in the Supreme Court. “If this trend continues it will be difficult for upright judges to function in the Supreme Court,” Ganguly told CNN-IBN’s Rajdeep Sardesai in an exclusive interview. He also said that he had denied the allegations of sexual harassment that had been levelled against him by a law intern who was working with him in 2012. “I totally deny the allegations. I am a victim of the circumstances,” he said. Ganguly said that there were two interns working with him at the time and one of them had gone off to attend a marriage. “I was in Delhi at the point in time and I had to do one work. She was also in Delhi… And she knew I was in Delhi and she came on her own,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_1257837” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Ganguly denied the allegations against him. Image courtesy: Supreme Court[/caption] He also  pointed out that there had been no complaint by her at the alleged time of the incident. “… she did some work, had dinner with me. If she felt uncomfortable with me she could have left at any point,” Ganguly said. The former apex court judge said that the intern had met him on a number of occasions in the past and had even visited his house a number of times. “She is like my child and I have treated with kindness… I am very sorry and shocked,” he said. Justice Ganguly also pointed out that the woman also didn’t suffer any physical harm. The former judge said that he had stated his denial about the allegations to the three judge panel that was probing the allegations. “I went to the panel and said that I deny it completely,” he said. The former judge also said that he had not received an affidavit on what the victim had said before the panel. The panel which probed the incident submitted its report to the Chief Justice today. “I don’t have a copy of the affidavit that has been submitted about me by the girl,” the former judge said. Justice Ganguly said that he had attempted to get in touch with the woman but she hadn’t responded. He also said he had faith that his legal career wouldn’t be judged on the basis of this incident. “I still have faith in the people. People should judge my judicial work… I am not ashamed of anything,” he said. Justice Ganguly maintained that the allegations were wrong but said there was no way to prove the allegations against him were false. “How can I prove the negative?” he said.