Educationists express support for Justice AK Ganguly

A group of educationists and intellectuals came out in support of former Supreme Court judge Justice AK Ganguly, claiming that he was a victim of a conspiracy to make him resign as the chairperson of West Bengal Human Rights Commission.

Kolkata: A group of educationists and intellectuals on Tuesday came out in support of former Supreme Court judge Justice AK Ganguly, claiming that he was a victim of a conspiracy to make him resign as the chairperson of West Bengal Human Rights Commission (WBHRC).

In a letter by eminent educationists, Sunanda Sanyal and Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra under the forum of `Democratic Citizens Forum of West Bengal`, they said the turn of events leading to Ganguly`s resignation had pained them. Prof Mahapatra was arrested in 2012 for emailing a cartoon allegedly derogatory of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee but had found support from WBHRC. The forum`s convener and activist Amitabha Majumdar said it had written to Ganguly, who quit following allegations of harassing a law intern, expressing their solidarity with him and assuring him of its support. In the letter, the forum said Ganguly was always at the radar of the state government for taking tough decisions and it could understand that a conspiracy was brewing when political parties started demanding his resignation but never expressed any support for the victim who had alleged sexual harassment by him. They also never clamoured for his punishment and went quiet after he resigned, said the letter. The educationists said they were shocked after the Chief Justice of India formed a committee to probe the allegations against Ganguly. Former DGP Naparajit Mukherjee was appointed as acting chairperson of WBHRC yesterday.