Supreme Court Upholds Reinstatement Of Uttarakhand Judge Who Allegedly Abused Minor Domestic Help

The Supreme Court today upheld the reinstatement of a judicial officer from Uttarakhand who was dismissed following departmental proceedings against her over allegations that she had physically abused a minor girl employed as domestic help at her residence.

Civil Judge Deepali Sharma was removed from her post following a disciplinary action initiated by the Registrar General of the High Court of Uttarakhand. "Unless the disciplinary action is approved by the Chief Justice of the High Court, or the committee comprising of judges constituted by him, as his delegates, purported disciplinary action for all intents and purposes shall be void ab initio," a CJI Surya Kant led bench noted today.

CJI Kant further observed that the Registrar General of the High Court has no authority, either in terms of constitutional scheme or statutory rules governing judicial officers, to suo motu initiate disciplinary action against a judicial officer. 

The bench also comprising Justice Joymalya Bagchi heard a petition initiated today by the administrative side of the High Court challenging the decision taken by the bench comprising Chief Justice G. Narendar and Justice Subhash Upadhyay. The High court's bench had noted that no corroborative evidence or independent witness had been relied upon by the investigating officer in the case against Sharma.

Senior Advocate Madhavi Divan, appearing for the High Court, told the bench that the departmental inquiry had established grave misconduct by the officer and the judicial officer had falsely victimised the minor girl, who was allegedly rescued with more than 20 injuries on her body.

In response “What we find is that the inquiry proceedings in the present case, at the very inception, suffer from a jurisdictional infirmity which goes to the root of the matter,” the Court said.

Notably, the High Court had noted that the case before it was not only a case of “no evidence”, but a case of a, “carefully crafted edifice without a foundation” and could also be termed as “a mountain made out of a molehill”.

In 2018, an anonymous e-mail was received stating that civil judge Deepali Sharma, posted at Haridwar was grossly abusing a minor girl she had kept as a maid servant in her house both physically, mentally and emotionally. "This girl has been taken in exchange for a favor from her parents who are in Haldwani or somewhere there and who were litigants or so in Mrs Deepali’s court. The girl child is in a miserable state which is beyond words as she is being beaten daily and starved. She has scratches, hurt marks, blood and bruises all over her face, back of arms and body. The girl gets no food for days and is without clothes. She is kept wearing a vest and cotton pajama in severe winter of Haridwar. The entire day, the girl is made to work and tortured. Her hair has also been pulled and chopped  off as a punishment so she looks retarded. The girl now looks like a bag of bones nearing death," the complaint had stated.

Case Title: HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL Vs DEEPALI SHARMA

Bench: CJI Kant and Justice Bagchi

Hearing Date: May 18, 2026