Charge against ex-judge: Lawyer asked to appear before panel

A lawyer, who has alleged sexual harassment by a recently-retired Supreme Court judge during her internship, was today asked to appear on November 18 before a three-judge committee set up to probe the charge.
"The committee in its meeting today decided to request her to appear before it on November 18," Ravindra Maithani, Secretary General of the apex court, said.
Maithani, who is also a member secretary of the committee comprising justices R M Lodha, H L Dattu and Ranjana Prakash Desai, said that the lawyer has been requested to appear after a deliberation that took place after the court hours.

Chief Justice P Sathasivam had yesterday constituted the three-judge committee to look into the charge of the lawyer.
Observing that he was concerned as head of the institution (judiciary), Chief Justice Sathasivam had said, "In the cases of sexual harassment, we cannot take it lightly."
The CJI had said that the committee "will go into the whole affair and find out the facts and prepare the report and from today evening they are going to start their work".
The matter was mentioned before the bench by Attorney General G E Vahavati who had termed it as "an extremely serious matter".

The young woman intern accused the sitting judge, who retired recently, of having misbehaved with her in a hotel room last December when the nation was grappling with the gangrape of a 23-year-old woman in the capital.