MP Woman Judge Resigns After Judicial Officer She Accused Of Harassment Elevated To High Court

A Madhya Pradesh Judicial Officer has reportedly tendered her resignation to the High Court's Chief Justice alleging harassment by a Judicial Officer whose appointment as Judge of the High Court was notified by the Centre on Monday. 

In a report by The Print, the judicial officer, Aditi Sharma, in her resignation stated that she was writing the letter with an "ache of betrayal", "not at the hands of a criminal or an accused, but at the hands of the very system I swore to serve". 

The resignation letter accessed by The Print states that the judicial officer has alleged that she was subjected to "unrelenting harassment" as a woman judge who "dared to speak up against a senior judge...wielding unaccountable power".

The letter reportedly states that the judicial officer followed every legitimate route–wherein she wrote to the Registrar General, the High Court Chief Justice, the Supreme Court and the President of the Republic, but the verdict was "silence".

"The same judiciary that sermonizes about transparency from the bench failed to even follow the basic tenets of natural justice within its own halls. The same institution that teaches equality before law handpicked power over truth...who orchestrated my suffering was not questioned – was rewarded. Recommended. Elevated. Given a pedestal instead of a summons...the man I accused not lightly, not anonymously, but with documented facts and the raw courage only a wounded woman can Summon was not even asked to explain. No inquiry. No notice. No hearing. No accountability—is now titled Justice, a cruel joke upon the very word," the letter reportedly states. 

The letter reportedly states that the judicial officer leaves the institution with "no medals" but a "bitter truth" that the judiciary not only failed her but failed itself. 

Notably the Supreme Court had earlier this year had set aside the termination of services of this woman judge and another officer in Madhya Pradesh, after finding the action to be "punitive, arbitrary and illegal".