Asok Kumar Ganguly
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Ganguly in March 2015
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| Judge of the Supreme Court of India | |
| In office 17 December 2008 – 3 February 2012 | |
| Appointed by | President of India |
| 21st Chief Justice of the Odisha High Court | |
| In office 2 March 2007 – 18 May 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Sujit Barman Roy |
| Succeeded by | Balbir Singh Chauhan |
| Chief Justice of the Madras High Court | |
| In office 19 May 2008 – December 2008 | |
| Preceded by | Ajit Prakash Shah |
| Succeeded by | Hemant Laxman Gokhale |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1947-02-03) 3 February 1947 (age 77) |
| Spouse | Roma Ganguly |
| Alma mater | Department of Law, University of Calcutta (MA, LLB) |
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Asok Kumar Ganguly is an Indian jurist. He served as the chairman of the West Bengal Human Rights Commission and as a judge of the Supreme Court of India[1] who delivered judgements in some high-profile cases like the 2G spectrum case.[2]
Ganguly was born on 3 February 1947.[3] He graduated with a Master of Arts in English from the University of Calcutta in 1968 and then received a Bachelor of Laws from the same university in 1970.[3]
He started his career in 1969 by teaching in the same school, Khidderpore Academy of which he was once a student.[3] In 1972, he started practice in Calcutta High Court.[3] On 10 January 1994, he was appointed a permanent judge of Calcutta High Court but within three months was transferred to the Patna High Court.[3] After remaining in Patna High Court for more than six years, he was transferred back to Calcutta High Court on 1 August 2000. There he subsequently became the senior most puisne judge in March 2005.[3] He functioned twice as acting Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court. Later he was transferred to the Orissa High Court where he joined as the senior most puisne judge on 21 April 2006.[3] On 2 March 2007 he took oath as Chief Justice of Orissa.[3] He joined the Madras High Court as chief justice on 19 May 2008. Later he was elevated to the Supreme Court of India where he joined on 17 December 2008 and remained on the court for more than 3 years. He retired on 3 February 2012.[3] Post his retirement, Ganguly worked as guest faculty at National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. He also went on to be the chairperson of the West Bengal Human Rights commission, where his role was highly appreciated.[4]
A woman intern had alleged a recently retired Supreme Court judge had sexually assaulted and sexually harassed her.[9] The Supreme Court, then appointed a three-member committee to probe the allegations and identified A K Ganguly was the one who harassed her.[10] He repeatedly denied all charges. He was indicted on 6 December 2013 by the committee, which agreed with the intern's allegation that he had subjected her to "unwelcome sexual behaviour" in December 2012.[11] He resigned from the West Bengal Human Rights Commission on 6 January 2014 after the Union Cabinet decided to make a Presidential Reference on 2 January 2014 to the Supreme Court for his removal.[12]
He was acquitted of all charges after the intern refused to record her statement before the police.[13]
