A retired high court judge has resigned as a member of the Odisha Human Rights Commission to protest against the state government’s decision to appoint a former judge junior to him as the chairman of the panel.

Justice Satrughana Pujahari has been appointed as chairman of the state human rights commission on February 9. Justice Raghubir Dash was already a member of the commission.

In his resignation letter addressed to governor Ganeshi Lal, Justice Raghubir Dash said: “The newly appointed chairperson of the OHRC is definitely a right person who has the ability to raise the reputation of the institution to the next level by his tireless efforts to protect the interests of the victims of human rights violations.

“However, my conscience, as well as sense of self-respect, dissuades me from continuing to hold the office of a member of the OHRC under the Chairperson- designate who, as a judge of the High Court of Orissa, was junior to me.”

Justice Dash, 69, who started his career as a Munsif in 1980, served as a judge of the high court from January 2013 to February 2016. After his retirement, Justice Dash was appointed as the acting chairperson of the panel till the appointment of a regular chairperson. From September 3, 2019, he continued as a member of the panel. A member can continue for five years or till the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier.

Justice Pujahari, 63, started his career in the early 1990s. He was elevated as an additional judge of Orissa High Court on November 29, 2013, and he took oath as a permanent judge of the high court on October 16, 2014. He was transferred to Madras High Court in November 2017 and repatriated to Orissa High Court on November 19, 2018.

IIT student falls to death

Mumbai: An 18-year-old student of IIT Bombay allegedly committed suicide by jumping off the seventh floor of a hostel building located on the Powai campus on Sunday, police said.

The student, who hailed from Ahmedabad, was in the first year of the B.Tech course in chemical engineering.

Security guards on the campus spotted the youth lying in a pool of blood, a police official said.

PTI