India, Jan. 9 -- The Uttarakhand high court has set aside the termination of a woman civil judge accused in 2018 of engaging a 14-year-old as a domestic help and subjecting her to physical abuse.

"This is not merely a case of no evidence, but a case where foundational facts themselves are missing," a bench of chief justice G Narendar and justice Subhash Upadhyay said in its January 6 judgment.

In a 130-page verdict, the bench said the inquiry against the judge suffered from serious procedural lapses, lack of primary evidence, non-examination of key witnesses, and reliance on an unproven preliminary report.

The high court quashed the inquiry and all subsequent proceedings against Deepali Sharma, then posted as civil judge (senior divisi...