Devyani Khobragade's arrest: Such things should not happen to high-level officials, says CJI

CHENNAI: With India locked in a face-off with the US over the arrest of senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade, Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam today said such things should not happen to high-level officials.

It was upto the government to decide on what steps should be taken to handle the issue, "but as an individual, it should not happen to our high officials," he told reporters on the sidelines of a convocation function here.

On the issue of former Supreme Court Judge A K Ganguly, acccused of sexually harassing a woman law intern, the CJI said that post-retirement, a judge is considered a normal citizen and therefore it was upto the person concerned to proceed further.

Earlier, a three-judge panel appointed by Chief Justice Sathasivam had indicted Justice Ganguly by holding that the statement of the intern, both written and oral, had prima facie disclosed "an act of unwelcome behaviour (unwelcome verbal/non-verbal conduct of sexual nature)" by the judge with her in the Le Meridien hotel room on December 24 last year.

Asked about a former CBI officer involved in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case purportedly confessing he had not recorded the statement verbatim of one of the death convicts AG Perarivalan, the Chief Justice refused to make any remarks since a related case is pending in the Supreme Court.

The Apex Court is looking into the mercy pleas of Perarivalan and two others--Murugan and Santhan.

Earlier in his address, the CJI expressed concern over ragging in colleges, stressing that it should be dealt with an 'iron hand.'

"I wish to emphasise that the menace of ragging in educational institutions adversely impact the standards of education," he said.