In a shocking incident that exposes the misuse of office staff for personal duties a sub magistrate in Sathyamangalam issued a memo to his office assistant for not washing his undergarments.

Not only the judicial officer violated conduct rules of judicial service, by using office staff for his personal and domestic work, he also questioned why disciplinary action should not be taken against S Vasanthy, office assistant assigned to work at his Erode residence, for refusing to wash his undergarments.

The judicial officer directed his office assistant to respond within seven days or face disciplinary action in his memo dated February 1.

A petrified Vasanthy, chose to meekly given and submitted a written apology with a promise that she would not give any scope for complaint in future.

It was only after she submitted her written reply that she could breathe easy and carry on “with her duties” – doing household chores in the residence of the judicial officer.

The memo and reply over, it was business as ususal till Thursday, when the memo as well as the office assistant’s apology were circulated over social media and created a storm with human rights activists, lawyers and womens organisations protesting the action of the judge against the hapless office assistant.

In the memo, the sub magistrate had asked the Office Assistant S.Vasanthy to clarify why disciplinary action should not be taken against her for confronting the magistrate and his wife while they had questioned her for not washing his underwear. The magistrate has asked her to respond to the memo within seven days.

She complied and responded the day she received the notice on February 2 and submitted her reply on March 4, apologizing for her conduct as also promised not to repeat it. She requested that the matter be dropped and no action be taken against her.

Human rights activists condemned the conduct of the magistrate and sought action against him.

M.Balachander (Advocate) District President of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) described it as a clear case of human rights violation. “It is not a lady’s job to wash the magistrate’s underwear,” he said adding “office assistants are not housemaids and they are not appointed to do such kind of menial jobs. She can lodge a complaint with the association and also take the matter with the district judge.”

The human rights activist said she could also lodge a complaint with the Chief Justice of Tamil Nadu on the violation.

C N.Amirtham, State President of the All India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) came down heavily on the magistrate’s actions but alleged that it was common for office assistants to be treated like this by magistrates.

Not many come out and complain against such behavior as they are afraid that they be subjected to false complaints, Amirtham said.

In a similar case, a woman was tortured in Tanjavur by a Judge and was ousted. Later the matter was taken to the court.

“Vasanthy should file a legal complaint regarding such a vulgar memo,” she told the Covaipost.

Meanwhile, A.Radhika, District Secretary of AIDWA has also condemned the magistrate and described his actions as “anti-law” that were against all norms.