Absence of mechanism to deal with cases against judges: SC

The Supreme Court on Wednesday noted that there is absence of a mechanism to deal with sexual harassment cases against current and former judges.

Referring specifically to the alleged sexual harassment case filed against former apex court judge Justice Swatanter Kumar, the Supreme Court said the matter will now be taken up again on February 14. The court also sought the assistance of senior advocates Fali S Nariman and K K Venugopal in the case.

A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam issued notices to the Secretary General of the Supreme Court, Justice Swatanter Kumar and the Government of India.

The apex court took up the law intern's petition, filed under Article 32 on Monday, challenging the apex court's December 5 full-court resolution in the Justice AK Ganguly case, saying "representations made against former judges of this court are not entertainable by the administration of the Supreme Court."

The intern has sought a forum to hold an inquiry into her allegations against Justice Kumar.

The law intern has also invoked the Vishakha judgement of the Supreme Court and has asked for the setting up of a gender committee to look into sexual harassment cases.

Earlier today, Justice Swatanter Kumar had approached the Delhi High Court to seek damages from media organizations citing negative reporting against him.

Justice Swatanter Kumar has been accused of sexual harassment by the law intern, an alumnus of National University of Juridical Sciences (NUJS), who worked with her in 2011.

The intern later quit in May 2011 after she was disturbed by the behaviour of the former judge.

She had recently filed a complaint against Kumar along with an affidavit seeking action against him.