FILE photo: Supreme Court
In a first order on sexual harassment in the Supreme Court, the Chief Justice of India has barred an advocate from court premises for six months over a complaint against him.
The court's Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committee had, in an inquiry report, recommended that the lawyer's entry into the court be banned for a year.
But Chief Justice P Sathasivam has noted that this is the first and only complaint received against the lawyer and ruled: "I am of the view that, in the first instance; six months' bar on entry into the Supreme Court precincts would suffice, considering the fact that, except the instant case, no other incident of this nature," has been reported.
The Chief Justice held that the six-month penalty would "not only allow him to redeem himself but also would operate as a deterrent against him."
The Supreme court's sexual harassment committee, which has on it seven lawyers and members of civil society, was set up last year after an intern accused former Supreme Court judge AK Ganguly of sexual harassment.
(Justice Ganguly, indicted for sexual harassment, quits as West Bengal rights panel chief)