Amid demands for Justice (Retd) A K Ganguly's removal as WBHRC chairman following a complaint of sexual harassment by a law intern, a former state Lokayukta today came to his defence, saying the judge should not resign merely on the basis of an unproven allegation and that he be allowed to present his case.
Former West Bengal Lokayukta Samaresh Bandopadhyay, a retired judge, today said, "I don't think that it will be appropriate for him to resign. And why should he resign just on the basis of an allegation unless he is proved guilty?".
Bandopadhyay, the state's first and only Lokayukta, felt that Ganguly had been pronounced guilty just on the basis of an allegation and had not been allowed to present his case.
"Ashok Ganguly has been pronounced guilty just on the basis of an allegation, which is absolutely wrong. He should be allowed to present his case and his version," said Bandopadhyay.
Bandopadhyay also questioned the enormous pressure being put on Justice Ganguly to step down as the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC) chairman.
"The politicians who are demanding his resignation just on the basis of an allegation, I want to ask them, do politicians also resign from their posts when allegations are levelled against them, which is quite rampant?" he wondered.
Justice Ganguly recently wrote an eight-page letter to Chief Justice of India P Sathasivam, denying that he had sexually harassed the intern and alleged that there was a "palpable design" to malign him because of the judgements he had delivered against "powerful quarters".
