NEW DELHI: Charges of sexual harassment against two retired Supreme Court judges have generated intense disquiet and unease among the nation's top judges, with some expressing the view that the institution is being "targeted by vested interests in a well-thought-out game plan".
Others, however, said the allegations could not be brushed under the carpet. They said an institutional mechanism needed to be set up to deal with such situations.
More than 10 judges, both sitting and retired, whom ET spoke to, expressed concern over the impact of the charges on the court's reputation. Some saw darker forces at work as in both instances there was a substantial delay before the charges surfaced, indicating motives other than an attempt by the complainants to get justice for themselves.
"The first intern's blog was a little too well-crafted for her age," a sitting judge said. "It was possibly vetted by a lawyer; each word carefully chosen."
"This is a well-conceived plan to target individual judges after retirement," said a recently retired judge, who monitored a CBI probe into a high-profile case of alleged corruption.
The allegations could possibly be an attempt to whip up "public disgust" against the institution to pave the way for the judicial accountability Bill, the judge said.
The complaint against Justice AK Ganguly came into the public domain in late 2013 while the incident allegedly took place in December 2012. Last week, allegations surfaced against the head of the National Green Tribunal, Justice Swatanter Kumar.
Last week, allegations surfaced against the head of the National Green Tribunal, Justice Swatanter Kumar, over an incident that supposedly took place two years ago. Both the judges have strongly denied the charges.
In a legal notice sent on behalf of Justice Kumar to a number of publications and television channels, his lawyers alleged the complaint was motivated by a conspiracy. "The complaint, my client has reason to believe, is part of a deep-rooted conspiracy to adversely impact his handling of an extremely sensitive tribunal and its timing itself is suspect as it comes on the heels of an allegation earlier made by an intern against another judge who has recently resigned."
In an interview with ET in Mumbai, former Supreme Court Judge BN Srikrishna said judges were being "deprived of their constitutional rights".
"The institution is going through very difficult times. Not having a mechanism to deal with these complaints quickly and discreetly is making things worse," said another high-profile judge, who issued a harsh indictment of the government just before he demitted office in 2011.
"The SC could do well to have an in house mechanism to deal with such complaints. But the fear, the danger of harassment (from being at the receiving end of false allegations) is always there," he conceded.
Are Supreme Court judges being 'targeted by vested interests'?
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