Judge accused of sending lewd SMSes to woman

A trial court judge from Badaun district in Uttar Pradesh has been accused of sending obscene SMSes to a woman in Bareilly.
Judicial magistrate Pramod Gangwar and his friend Vivek Gupta are named in an FIR lodged by one Annaju Singh.

Gupta and Singh teach in a college. Singh reported to a mahila thana (all-woman police station) that she was receiving salacious SMSes and objectionable calls from a mobile number belonging to judge Gangwar.

Gupta moved the Allahabad high court seeking bail for his friend. “He [Gangwar] belongs to a very reputed family. If he is arrested, his career would be ruined,’’ he said. The petitioner also told the court that Annaju had never complained to him about the SMSes or calls.

Gupta also argued that in thepolice investigation, “the judicial officer (Gangwar) clearly admitted to having sent the SMSes and making the calls to Annaju, yet the police is trying to foist a false case on him’’.

The Allahabad high court refused to scrap the FIR or grant Gangwar bail. “It would transpire that she (Annaju) has levelled allegations not only against Gangwar but also against Gupta (petitioner) who is said to be a close friend of Gangwar,” a bench of justices Imtiyaz Murtaza and Naheed Ara Moonis said.

“It is stated that Gupta and Gangwar had been sending indecent SMSes. Therefore, it cannot be said that there is virtually no allegation against him in the FIR’’.

After going through the allegations in the FIR, the court said, “The allegations disclose commission of cognisable offence, and therefore, there is no round for this court to interfere.’’

“Be that as it may, the matter is under investigation and no case is made out for interference at this stage,’’ a bench of justices Murtaza and Moonis said.

Court-watchers said this was the first time a judge had been accused of making obscene calls to a woman.In the past, some subordinate judicial officers had faced charges of rape and some higher court judges had been involved in sex scams.