Petition moved in SC against removal of AK Ganguly

NEW DELHI: A petition was today moved in the Supreme Court seeking to restrain the Centre from making any attempt to remove former Supreme Court judge A K Ganguly as Chairman of West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) in the wake of allegation of sexually harassing a law intern.

The petition in this regard was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam which agreed to hear it on January 6.

The petition filed by Delhi resident M Padma Narayan Singh, who is a doctor by profession, has also sought quashing of the complaint on which a three-member panel of apex court judge indicted Justice Ganguly for unwelcome behaviour against the woman intern.

The petitioner, who is a senior citizen, alleged that Ganguly has become a victim of conspiracy as he, as an arbitrator, had decided a matter between a prominent football club of Kolkata and All India Football Federation (AIFF) in which the intern had also participated.

She has also named Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising as one of the respondents in the petition, accusing her of working relentlessly to get Justice Ganguly arrested unlawfully.

The petition also criticised politicians across the party lines demanding removal of Ganguly as WBHRC Chairman.

While contending that Ganguly's act did not fall under sexual harassment, the petition said "the limitation period for raising complaint under the Sexual Harassment Act 2013 is only three months, since the last act of alleged harassment" and this was not followed in this case.