Coming out in support of former Supreme Court Justice A.K. Ganguly, who has been allegedly accused of sexually harassing a law intern in December 2012, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy on Monday said there is a campaign being run against Ganguly.
"The way a whole campaign is being run against him, seems like there is an agenda behind it. And, this is what I want to be investigated," said Swamy.
Swamy further said: "There is no case there if there is no FIR. The girl is refusing to go before the police. Plus the government is also refusing to take suo-moto notice. So I think there are some forces, which are targeting him so that other judges will get scared, and, will restrain from giving fearless judgements like the ones he has given."
"I don't know what is wrong or right. I would say that the most important thing is that when the girl has made a complaint, then let there be a FIR, let there been an investigation, and then we should come to a conclusion. Girl does not want her identity to be protected as she has given interview to the Wall Street Journal and other websites. She has also published a blog. Now the whole country knows what her name is. I find this very odd and extraordinary," he added.
On Justice Ganguly writing to Chief Justice Sathasivam, Swamy said, "He has no alternatives but to write this letter, because everything is being said against him without any investigation. Many illegalities are also being suggested because he can't be removed from the chairmanship of West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) unless he is convicted."
Talking about the media hype being created around the controversy, he said, "There is a media hype but upto a point. Media hype is very selective as we all know about the compulsions faced by the media. I don't know why the media is going after him. It seems that he is a soft target.
"I certainly think that in our democratic system of law he has a right to be heard and he can't be condemned without it," Swamy added.
Earlier today, A.K. Ganguly wrote letter to Supreme Court Chief Justice P Sathasivam in which he expressed his distress over the incident, and demanded that his side of the story be heard.
"I have been distressed by some of the recent happenings. I am anguished that the Supreme Court did not address me correctly. My side of the story was not heard," said Justice A.K. Ganguly in his letter to Chief Justice Sathasivam.
On December 19, the Home Ministry had sought the opinion of the Attorney General on the suggestion for the removal of AK Ganguly from his position as Chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission. The suggestion is that the President will have to make a reference to the Supreme Court, which will then order an inquiry.
According to reports, the draft of the presidential reference is expected to go to President Pranab Mukherjee.
On December 15, Additional Solicitor General Indira Jaising wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought the removal of Justice Ganguly as chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission.
Justice Ganguly has been accused of sexually assaulting a law intern who worked with him. The Supreme Court had set up a three-judge panel, which heard testimonies from both, the law intern and Ganguly and submitted its report to the Chief Justice of India, P. Sathasivam, naming Ganguly as the accused.
The alleged sexual molestation incident is said to have taken place in a five-star hotel in Delhi last December.
