Former Chief Justice of Punjab & Haryana HC Mukul Mudgal accused of sexual assault

Justice Mukul Mudgal, former Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, has been accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the early 1990s, ThePrint reports.

Mukul Mudgal J had allegedly gone to the house of a woman he knew through her cousin at 11 pm one night on the pretence of wanting coffee. The night eventually culminated in the former judge forcing himself upon her, the woman has alleged. The report states,

“I was down on the bed, and he was on top of me with full force. And I mean full force,” she alleged, grimacing.

As she narrated what she said happened that night, her body recoiled, and she pulled a hand over her face. “He slobbered all over me…It was disgusting…

…With her arms flailing and legs kicking, he finally relented and left the house, she said.

“He didn’t go all the way. He didn’t rape me. But he did attack me.”

The woman alleged that the incident left her with bruises all over her body.

When reached for comment, Justice Mukul Mudgal denied the allegation, terming it as “utterly false and baseless”.

The report quotes him as saying,

“The alleged incident is said to have taken place more than 25 years ago. While I did have a few meals with her around that period, our friendship did not continue as I felt that we did not have much in common.

However, the allegations that I went to her house or that I had assaulted her and caused bruises are utterly false and baseless.

I have lived a life without moral blemish. I have worked and moved with women of different ages and different spheres of life without giving a cause for complaint to anyone.”

On being asked why she chose to come forth only after more than two decades, the woman reportedly said,

“For years I couldn’t say anything because of how close our families were. I felt too many people would be hurt if I spoke up against him.”

Heartened by the Me Too movement, she finally confronted the former judge on October 18 this year, sending him a WhatsApp message. After she denied Mukul Mudgal J permission to call her, the former judge’s cousin allegedly called her and told her that the incident was a “mistake” on the part of the judge. However, Mukul Mudgal J has denied using the word “mistake”.

“I did not say to him that I had made a mistake. However, it is possible her cousin may have used those words or even added something else in order to resolve the matter”, he reportedly said.

Summing up, the woman told ThePrint,

“I want to tell this story because my child has suffered the same fate — even if in a different way,” she said. “If the keepers of the law are themselves the perpetrators, can any woman hope to have any justice?”

Born to a family of musicians, Justice Mukul Mudgal enrolled as a lawyer in 1973, and went on to become an Advocate-on-Record at the Supreme Court of India five years later. He was appointed as a judge of the Delhi High Court in 1998. He was later appointed as Chief Justice of the Punjab & Haryana High Court in 2009, before retiring in 2011.

After retirement, he headed the Mudgal Committee to conduct independent inquiries into allegations of corruption in the Indian cricket board. He is also a member of the FIFA Governance Committee and Review Committee.