Agencies/New Delhi
India’s upper house of parliament yesterday initiated the impeachment on corruption charges of a high court judge, against a backdrop of mass anti-graft protests across the country. Soumitra Sen, 53, is accused of “misappropriating” large sums of public funds in an abuse of his position as a justice of the Calcutta High Court. If successfully impeached - a process that would require the approval of two-thirds of both houses of parliament - Sen would be India’s first sitting high court judge to be sacked. Introducing the motion of impeachment, Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP Sitaram Yechury stressed that parliament was not seeking to infringe on the independence of the judiciary. “We are not moving against the judiciary as a whole which we hold in the highest of esteem,” Yechury told the Rajya Sabha, the upper house. “This is a motion against one judge who has been found to have indulged in conduct that constitutes the definition of misbehaviour,” he added. The only precedent for such a case was the attempted impeachment in 1993 of a Supreme Court justice, V Ramaswami, which fell through after failing to garner the support of enough lawmakers. Ramaswami later resigned. Defending himself in the house, Sen said he had been the victim of what he called “a mockery of justice” and strongly denied the charges behind the motion. “I will prove there has been no misappropriation, in fact and in law,” Sen said. He was found to have diverted Rs2.4mn (about $52,822) in the 1990s when, as receiver for that court, he was custodian of disputed funds. He has not received a criminal conviction, and has returned the money with interest, but a panel of judges has found that there was still an unresolved issue of breach of trust. Sen claimed he was a self-made person hailing from a humble background.“I am in this position because of my hard work,” Sen said in his 100-minute speech in English defending himself in the case. He said none of his family members - father, mother or siblings - were in judicial positions and his career has been self-made. A full-suited Sen spoke calmly but strongly as he argued that there was “no proven case of misappropriation of money” against him. Two of his legal aides kept supplying documents as he spoke from the bar of the house.“I am not wrong,” said Sen in his reply, arguing that the charges against him related to his role as a lawyer appointed receiver by the high court and not as a judge. “There have been no complaints against my honesty and integrity,” Sen said. He added that he has been cleared of the charges by a division bench of the high court. According to him “mere diversion of funds did not amount to misappropriation of funds.”Sen said that there was a presumption of guilty against him by the then chief justice of India K G Balakrishnan, when he ordered an inquiry by a committee of judges. “Whatever the decision” of the Rajya Sabha, Sen said he will announce his innocence “from the rooftops.” “I leave it your conscience,” Sen appealed to the MPs in the concluding part of his speech.After the speech, Sen was asked by chairman Hamid Ansari to withdraw from the house. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders of various parties were present in the house, which had a high attendance. The four-hour discussion will continue today.The impeachment process coincided with mass protests across India in support of social activist Anna Hazare, who has vowed to fast until death in protest at what he sees as a watered-down, anti-corruption law being considered by parliament. The Lokpal Bill would create a new ombudsman tasked with investigating and prosecuting senior politicians and bureaucrats. Hazare’s protest has focused on the fact that the bill exempts the prime minister and senior members of the judiciary from the ombudsman’s scrutiny.