Ranjan Gogoi

A woman has accused Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment. She was an employee at his office. The complaint is in the form of affidavit with a covering letter. It was sent to 22 judges of the Supreme Court. The reports appeared on Caravan, Leaflet, Scroll and The Wire on 20/4/2019. It was Saturday. CJI Ranjan Gogoi convened a sitting of the Supreme Court. He headed the bench that consisted Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna. Attorney General K. K. Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta were present.
Ranjan Gogoi denied the allegations. He said “There has to be a bigger, bigger force behind this… They want to deactivate the office of the CJI.” He further said he had taken the extraordinary and unusual step of convening the sitting because things have gone too far. He hinted the charges were made because he was hearing sensitive cases next week.
Tushar Mehta said the charges were rubbish. Arun Mishra said the judiciary would not be able to function if such unscrupulous allegations were levelled against judges.
On 12/1/2018 Ranjan Gogoi and three other Supreme Court judges had held a press conference against then CJI Dipak Misra. That time he did not think highly of the office of CJI. He should name the persons behind the accuser.
The sitting could have been held on Monday. Ranjan Gogoi could have recused himself and another judge could have taken his place. The accused being a judge in a case involving himself is strange.
Supreme Court has Gender Sensitisation and Internal Complaints Committee. It is headed by Justice Indu Malhotra. It has 11 members. GSICC has power to pass orders on any complaint of sexual harassment in the Supreme Court precincts. However GSICC requires permission of the CJI to implement certain directions. CJI has the authority to modify or set aside the orders passed by GSICC.
What happens when CJI is accused? The code dealing with complaints has no provision for that.
Supreme Court lawyer Utsav Bains said he was offered 1.5 crore rupees by an unidentified person to organise a media conference and frame Ranjan Gogoi at Presss Club of India and present and present the accuser. He refused and went to inform Ranjan Gogoi of the conspiracy around 7 p.m. on 19/4/2019. The staff said he was not at his residence.
It is wrong to say accusation against CJI is an attack on independence of judiciary. The law is above CJI. If CJI can get away that way, other judges also can do the same. Contempt of court provision has been used against true reports about judges. Ministers can claim attack on them is attack on India. Let law take its course.