Sexual harassment in judiciary: Supreme Court issues notice to Madhya Pradesh HC, government

A two-judge bench consisting of Justices A K Sikri and Ashok Bhushan has issued notice to High Court of Madhya Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh Government on a petition for reinstatement filed by a lady Additional District Judge (ADJ) who was sexually harassment by a sitting judge of the Madhya Pradesh High Court. She contends that her resignation from her post of ADJ in the district Gwalior was under duress due to the unfavorable circumstances leading to her forced resignation.

After hearing Senior Advocate Indira Jaising on behalf of the petitioner who apprised the bench of the urgency of the case, the Court issued notice on the writ petition and sought reply from the concerned  High Court and State government to file their respective replies within six weeks.

In her petition, she has contended that the administrative decision of the full court of the Madhya Pradesh High Court rejecting her representation for joining back to her post of ADG is vitiated on account of natural justice, non-appreciation of evidence, non-application of mind as well as arbitrariness and violation of fundamental rights under Articles. 14, 15, 16, 21 read with Article 233, 235 and 311 of the Constitution. In her representation to the Madhya Pradesh High Court, she expressed that she wanted to be reinstated as an ADJ while emphasizing that the Judges Inquiry Committee had recommended that she should be reinstated if she so wishes.

In the present writ petition, the lady former judge has contended that her resignation amounts to “deemed termination”. The relief sought by way of this petition by the ADJ is her re-instatement to the post of ADJ along with seniority as applicable to her tenure, back wages and all other consequential relief.

Read the petition:

[pdfviewer]https://cdn.theleaflet.in/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Ms-X-WP.pdf[/pdfviewer]