NEW DELHI: A woman judge from Uttar Pradesh has sought permission from Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud to "end her life" alleging inaction on her complaint of sexual harrasment by a district judge.
I have no will to live anymore. I have been rendered to a walking corpse in the last year and a half. There is no purpose in carrying this soulless and lifeless body around anymore. There is no purpose left in my life. Kindly permit me to end my life in a dignified way, her letter stated.
The Supreme Court administration, however, took cognisance of the matter upon a direction by the Chief Justice of India and sought status report from the Allahabad high court on her complaint.
The woman civil judge is at present posted at Banda district. The alleged incident took place during her posting in Barabanki.
According to reports, acting on instructions by the CJI, Supreme Courts secretary general Atul M Kurhekar wrote to the registrar general of the Allahabad high court on Thursday, seeking details of the status of the proceedings before the internal complaint committee (ICC), dealing with the complaint of the judge.
On Wednesday, a writ petition filed by her was dismissed on as an ICC was already seized of her complaint.
The letter by the woman judge claimed her case was dismissed by the Supreme Court after eight seconds of hearing.
She alleged that the district judge in question had asked her to meet him at night.
A complaint had been given to the Allahabad high court chief justice and the administrative judge in 2022, no action was taken till date. Subsequently, she filed a complaint with the internal complaints committee of the high court in July 2023.
"It took six months and a thousand emails just to start an enquiry. The proposed enquiry is also 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 said in the letter.
She said she demanded transfer of the district judge during the pendency of the inquiry so that a fair examination of facts would be possible, but her plea was turned down.
"What Justice will I give to others when I am myself hopeless," her letter stated.
