Judge resigns after senior, whom she accused of harassment, elevated to High Court

A woman civil judge in Madhya Pradesh has resigned in protest, expressing anguish over the appointment of a district judge accused of harassing her to the Madhya Pradesh High Court. In a strongly worded resignation letter addressed to the Chief Justice of the Madhya Pradesh High Court, Junior Division Civil Judge Aditi Kumar Sharma said the very judiciary that preaches justice and equality had failed her by promoting the man she accused of serious misconduct.

Judge Sharma’s resignation follows the elevation of Shahdol District Judge Rajesh Kumar Gupta, whom she had accused of harassment, to the post of a High Court judge. Describing the appointment as a “reward” for her alleged tormentor, she questioned the silence and inaction of the judicial system in the face of documented complaints.

“This person was not even asked for an explanation. No notice, no inquiry, no hearing—no accountability. What is now called justice has become a cruel joke,” Judge Sharma wrote in her resignation.

The controversy dates back to an earlier episode where Judge Sharma, along with five other women judicial officers, was dismissed from service. However, the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the matter and in a landmark ruling on February 28, 2025, termed the dismissals “arbitrary and illegal.” The apex court not only set aside the termination orders but also reinstated Sharma and the other officers.

Despite the Supreme Court's intervention, Sharma alleges she continued to face institutional harassment. In her resignation, she writes that she spoke out against District Judge Gupta “not anonymously but with documented facts and the indomitable courage that only an aggrieved woman can show,” yet no one in the system acted on her complaints.

“What message does this send to the daughters of the judiciary?” she questioned. “That they can be tortured, humiliated, and institutionally wiped out—merely for daring to believe that the system would protect them?”

Sharma said she is not resigning as a judicial officer but as “a victim of the system’s silence.” Her letter reflects a deep sense of betrayal and despair: “The same judiciary that preaches transparency from the bench failed to follow even the basic principles of natural justice in its own houses.”

She ended her letter with a sharp rebuke to the judicial establishment: “You refused to protect one of your own. You refused to do justice by following your principles where it was needed the most. If this does not shake your conscience, then perhaps the rot is deeper than we can admit.”

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