Misconduct case: HC orders inquiry against 2 dist judges

THEY ALLEGEDLY COERCED A LAWYER TO WITHDRAW HER RAPE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST A DELHI-BASED ADVOCATE

- Utkarsh Anand and Shruti Kakkar

The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered an administrative inquiry against two district court judges accused by a woman lawyer of pressuring her to withdraw rape allegations made against a Delhi-based advocate.

The direction was issued by a bench of justice Amit Mahajan while dealing with a petition filed by the woman lawyer seeking to cancel the anticipatory bail granted to the 51-year-old advocate on July 16. This, even as the high court in a full court meeting on August 29 suspended one of the district judges, Sanjeev Kumar Singh, and recommended disciplinary proceedings against him and another judge, Anil Kumar, based on woman's allegations.

As first reported by HT on September 2, the complaint was backed by audio recordings, which prompted the swift intervention. Records of the full court meeting of August 28, seen by HT, had revealed that the suspension of Singh and the decision to initiate proceedings against both Singh and Kumar were sparked by complaints of grave judicial misconduct by the woman complainant.