SC Withdraws Order Asking Former NUJS VC to Record Sexual Harassment Case

The Supreme Court has given relief to former NUJS Kolkata Vice-Chancellor, Prof Nirmal Kanti Chakrabarti, by removing its earlier direction that required him to permanently mention sexual harassment allegations in his resume.

This change relates to the Court’s September 12 judgment, in which it had ordered Chakrabarti to attach a copy of the judgment to his resume and professional records. That direction was meant to ensure transparency, even though the sexual harassment complaint against him was dismissed on technical grounds.

Back then, a Bench of Justices Pankaj Mithal and PB Varale had noted that although the complaint filed under the POSH Act could not be considered because it was time-barred, the incident should still stay on record.

However, Chakrabarti later filed an expunction application before the same Bench, arguing that the direction was unfair. Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Madhavi Divan, appearing for him, submitted that the Court’s remark amounted to a serious stigma, even though no inquiry or evidence was ever considered. They pointed out that the Local Complaints Committee had rejected the December 2023 complaint as time-barred, and both the Calcutta High Court and Supreme Court had only examined the limitation issue—not the merits of the allegations.

They argued that forcing Chakrabarti to carry this permanent remark in his professional record, without any factual finding, violated the principles of natural justice and tarnished his reputation.

While hearing the plea, the Bench said it was unnecessary to go into the larger legal issues raised by the applicant. The judges acknowledged that since no finding was made on the merits of the sexual harassment allegations, the earlier direction could not stand. The Court added that even though the intention was to keep the public informed about the incident, it would not be appropriate to continue the remark in the absence of any proven wrongdoing.

The Court therefore deleted the earlier direction, allowing Chakrabarti’s request.

Chakrabarti was represented by Senior Advocates Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Madhavi Divan along with a team of lawyers including Satya Ranjan Swain, Vishnu Kant, Amit Bhandari, Ankush Kapoor, Kautilya Birat, Aandrita Deb, Rajnandini, and Vishwadeep Chandrakar.