A sub-judge of a court at nearby Sathyamangalam has "issued" a memo to a woman court assistant for not washing his household clothes properly. The memo by sub-judge D Selvam to assistant S Vasanthi said, "You are not properly washing the clothes and in particular you are throwing away the inner garments in disgust." When the official (sub-judge) and his spouse asked about it, "you have retorted," the memo said. Copies of the memo and her reply to it last month has gone viral on the social media. Asking why disciplinary action should not be taken against her, the memo asked the staffer to "show cause, as to why such action should not be contemplated against her" within seven days of the receipt of the memo.

In her reply, which she called a "humble explanation", Vasanthi said "in future, I will conduct myself in a manner avoiding such complaints." She requested that the action contemplated be dropped by stating,"I request you very humbly to relieve me from this memo."

While the memo is dated February 1, the reply was made on February 4.

"I feel there may be a solution to this since the issue has attracted attention," Vasanthi said adding she was asked by the sub-judge to not work at his home today.

General secretary, Tamil Nadu Judicial Employees Association, T Senthil Kumar condemned issuance of the memo.

"We condemn this memo. It is a human rights violation. We have already sent a petition to the Registrar General of the Madras High Court, seeking appropriate action against the sub-judge," he told PTI.

He said "our request is that office assistants should not be used for household work."

"We condemn this memo. It is a human rights violation. We have already sent a petition to the Registrar General of the Madras High Court, seeking appropriate action against the sub-judge," he told PTI.

He said "our request is that office assistants should not be used for household work."