The Indian judiciary shook to its core when the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi was accused of molesting and persecuting a former Supreme Court employee. The woman claims in an affidavit, which she has sent to all the judges of the court, that incidents occurred in October 2018. The affidavit was sent on April 19, 2019.
“I am requesting the Hon’ble Judges of the Supreme Court to constitute a special enquiry committee of senior retired judges of the Hon’ble Supreme Court to enquire into these charges of sexual harassment and consequent victimisation,” she wrote in the affidavit.
Many eminent personalities have commented on the matter so far. Some believe that the allegations against the CJI are totally “baseless” and “unpragmatic” while others are questioning his participation on the Apex court bench hearing the harassment case.
False and cooked-up: The Bar Council of India stood in support of the CJI and strongly condemned the allegations.
“These are all false and cooked-up allegations and we condemn these kinds of acts. These kind of allegations and actions should not be encouraged. This is an attempt to malign the institution. Entire bar is standing in solidarity with the Chief Justice of India,” Manan Kumar Mishra, BCI chairperson said.
Remarks made by Supreme Court Secretary-General: The Secretary general released a statement which puts forth 3 points needed to be considered while looking at this harassment case.
- He claims in the statement that the complainant worked as a lower division clerk and almost 5-6 people were always present there. No occasion occurred when she directly reported to Gogoi.
- The Secretary-General also claimed that the woman who has made allegations was accused of taking a bribe during her employment period.
- The statement says that Ranjan Gogoi’s secretariat had made complaints about ‘inappropriate behaviour’ of the woman.
When most judges are seen supporting Mr Gogoi, women lawyers are questioning his way of handling the sexual harassment charge. They have questioned why the CJI is hearing his own case. Senior advocate Indira Jaising stated that the CJI should have absolutely not been a part of the Bench.
Ranjan Gogoi has clearly denied all the charges and stated that he believes a bigger force might be behind all the tussle.
“After 20 years of selfless service as judge, I have bank balance of Rs 6.80 lakh,” he said. “Nobody can catch me on money, people have to find something and they have found this: This is the reward CJI gets after 20 years of service,” he further added.
Mr Gogoi said on his decision of sitting in the court, “I have taken this unusual and extraordinary step of sitting in court today because things have gone too far,” he said. “The judiciary can’t be made a scapegoat.”
A time when the apex court faces turmoil, several questions are popping in everyone’s mind. Is the CJI innocent or has he really committed the crime? Is the woman lying, if yes, then who is behind all this conspiracy?
After witnessing the fall of CBI and RBI, we can clearly see the Supreme Court of India falling apart. Have the highly regarded institutions of India become helpless and maligned?