UP Judge Seeks Permission To End Life, Chief Justice Seeks Report

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud on Thursday sought report from the Allahabad High Court after a women judge from Uttar Pradesh alleged sexual harassment by a senior at the workplace in a letter to him.

As per the sources, the Chief Justice directed the Supreme Court Secretary General Atul M Kurhekar to seek the status update. In order to seek information about all the complaints made by the women judge, Kurhekar wrote a letter to Registrar of the Allahabad High Court.

The Supreme Court has also sought the report of proceedings before the Internal Complaints Committee that dealt with the complaint.

Chief Justice sought the report as the letter addressed to him by the women judge went viral on social media. The women civil judge posted in Banda district in Uttar Pradesh wrote in her two-page letter, “In the short time of my service I have had the rare honour of being abused (the dreaded Hindi mother curse word) on dias in open court. I have been sexually harassed to the very limit. I have been treated like utter garbage. I feel like an unwanted insect. And I hoped to provide justice to others. What naive me!,”

The Secretary General was informed on phone last night that the acting Chief Justice of the High Court has also taken note of the open letter.

The women judge alleged that an investigation was ordered following her complaint with the Internal Complaints Committee of the High Court, but the inquiry is “a farce and a sham”.

“The witnesses in the enquiry are immediate Subordinates of the District Judge. How the Committee expects the Witnesses to depose against their Boss is beyond my understanding,” she wrote.

She then wrote in the letter for the transfer of the judge pending the inquiry to ensure fair investigation, but the petition was dismissed by the Supreme Court in “just eight seconds”.

The judge concluded her letter to the Chief Justice by saying, “Kindly permit me to end my life in a dignified way. Let my life be: DISMISSED.”