Sexual abuse charges an attack on judiciary's independence: CJI
New Delhi: In a chain of extraordinary events that have stunned the judiciary and entire nation, a former Supreme Court woman employee has sent copies of a sworn affidavit to the residences of 22 SC judges, making serious sexual harassment allegations against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi.
The news of the affidavit became public on Saturday, after which Gogoi hurriedly convened an urgent extraordinary hearing and asserted that the charges were "unbelievable" and part of a conspiracy by some "bigger force" to "deactivate" the CJI's office, reported news agency Press Trust of India (PTI).
The woman staffer had worked at Gogoi's home office in Delhi and the charges date back to October 2018. In her affidavit, she described two incidents of alleged molestation by Gogoi days after he was appointed CJI last October and her subsequent persecution. The woman alleged that she was removed from service after she rebuffed his "sexual advances", PTI added.
She claimed that her husband and brother-in-law, both of whom were head constables, were suspended for a 2012 criminal case that had been mutually resolved.
She was later also made to prostrate before Gogoi's wife and made to rub her nose at her feet in the chief justice's residence, she alleged in her affidavit, adding that her disabled brother-in-law was removed from service at the Supreme Court, said PTI.
A three-judge special bench headed by CJI Gogoi himself and also comprising justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna was hurriedly constituted in Court No 1 of the Supreme Court on Saturday morning to deal with the allegations but as the hearing progressed, he opted out midway from passing any judicial order. The CJI left it to Justice Arun Mishra to take a call on passing any judicial order, said PTI.
Justice Mishra, however, said they were leaving it to the "wisdom of media" to show restraint and act responsibly so that independence of judiciary is not affected. The court decided not to formally issue any gag order.
The court held the hearing for about 30 minutes during which Gogoi said the independence of judiciary was under "very serious threat" and "unscrupulous allegations" of sexual harassment had been levelled against the CJI as some "bigger force" wanted to "deactivate" the office of the Chief Justice. He did not elaborate on who the "bigger force" was that he was referring to, the PTI report added.
Senior advocate Indira Jaising questioned why Attorney General K K Venugopal appeared in the SC during the hearing on the allegations against CJI Gogoi, reported PTI.
In a series of tweets, Jaising, said that since the "government has so vociferously defended the Chief Justice of India, should he not recuse from hearing any cases relating to the government?"
"What have the allegations of sexual harassment by a dismissed woman employee of the SC got to do with the Government of India ? Why should the Attorney General for India appear is such a case?" she tweeted, according to the Press Trust of India report.
