KOCHI: The Kozhikode Additional District Judge has been suspended for allegedly misbehaving with a woman. The decision to suspend Judge M Suhaib was made by the High Court Administrative Committee, chaired by the Chief Justice of the High Court. Last week, Judge Suhaib had misbehaved with a female office assistant in a manner that outraged her modesty. Based on this incident, the judge was later transferred to Vadakara.
However, there was opposition even among the court officers regarding the move to transfer Suhaib to Vadakara, his hometown. Following this, strong action was taken against Suhaib based on the report submitted by the Principal District Judge of Kozhikode. Despite the absence of a formal complaint from the young woman, the Administrative Committee initiated action in the Kozhikode incident by following a precedent set by the High Court that allows for cases to be registered in instances of insult or harassment against women, even without a formal complaint.
The meeting chaired by the Chief Justice assessed that the alleged incident tarnished the reputation of the judiciary. More than a hundred court employees directly expressed their protest to the Principal District Sessions Judge regarding the Judge's misbehaviour towards the woman employee. The majority of the protesters were women employees. The incident that occurred in the courtroom has shocked the legal community.