A senior immigration judge in London has resigned after allegedly making a racist remark about a British Indian woman who was harassed by her ex boyfriend, 23 years old Parvan Singh.
The judge had asked for the victim of the harassment case he was hearing, Deepa Patel, 22, to attend court so that he could sentence that afternoon.
When told by the prosecutor, Rachel Parker, that it may not be possible for Ms Patel to get the time off work at such short notice Mr Hollingworth replied: “It won’t be a problem. She won’t be working anywhere important where she can’t get the time off. She’ll only be working in a shop or an off-licence.”Following the judge’s comments Ms Parker withdrew as a prosecutor and said: “I am professionally embarrassed. I cannot prosecute this case.”
Judge Hollingworth has now been reported to Her Majesty’s Courts and Tribunals service for the “inappropriate comments”.
Lancashire-born Miss Patel reportedly told The Sun newspaper: 'It's shocking and disgusting for anyone to say that, especially a judge.
“He's the one deciding people's freedom and he's saying stuff like that — it's ridiculous.”
“You would assume people of this day and age, especially a judge, wouldn't be racist.”
'I'm glad I wasn't in the room — I don't think I would have coped. It's right that he's resigned but it's outrageous that he's still an immigration judge. He needs to resign altogether.'
According to the reports, Ms Patel’s former partner was jailed for 12 weeks for harassment.
