Police complaint against Ganguly

With clamour for resignation of Justice A K Ganguly growing, a Kolkata-based NGO Bharat Bachao Sangathan filed a police complaint in a city police station on Wednesday. Derek O’Brien, Trinamool Congress MP and the party’s chief whip in the Rajya Sabha, also demanded the same on micro-blogging site Twitter the same afternoon.

“Justice Ganguly should step down as chair of WBHRC...” tweeted Derek on Wednesday. While his party colleague Kalyan Bandopadhyay made the same demand on Tuesday, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj in Delhi also wanted Justice Ganguly to resign from the rights body earlier in the week.

Expressing his party’s concerns and reservations against Justice Ganguly to continue as head of the WBHRC, Derek posted on Twitter, “The Trinamool Congress has noted with anxiousness and concern the charges of sexual harassment against Justice (retired) Ashok Kumar Ganguly, chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC). The charges cannot but leave an impact on public perception of his current role as chair of the WBHRC.

The Trinamool Congress has followed an approach of zero tolerance when it comes to safety and dignity of women in the workplace and the toxic phenomenon of sexual harassment.” He further wrote, “It is for those in senior positions in public life to act as role models not just in upholding standards of conduct with female colleagues but also in responding expeditiously and with sensitivity when they themselves face charges of this nature.

As such, it would be wholly incumbent upon Justice Ganguly to step down from his position as chair of the WBHRC and restore the sanctity of the office he currently holds. Public propriety and a sense of decency demand this. I therefore urge Justice Ganguly to resign as chair of the WBHRC.”

While political parties demanded his resignation, NGO Bharat Bachao Sangathan lodged a complaint of sexual harassment against Justice Ganguly with the police. They decided to file a general diary after the police refused to accept an FIR. Volunteers of the NGO also demonstrated outside his office in the city.