On the 23rd of April, the Supreme Court (SC) cleared a panel of three in house judges to look into allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi. The allegations were made by a former employee of SC.
Headed by Justice Bobde, the three bench panel will also consist of two Apex Court judges, Justice N.V. Ramana and Justice Indira Banerjee. Shri Sanjeev S. Kalgaonkar, the Supreme Court General, was asked to be ready with the documents and materials for the hearing on the 26th of April.
“I decided to have Justice Ramana in the panel as he is next to me in seniority and Justice Banerjee, as she is a woman judge,” Justice Bobde said.
This is not only the first time in India an allegation like this was made against a CJI, but also the first time a panel like this was set up to look into a matter of this kind.
Reiterating the fact it will not be a formal judicial hearing, Justice Bobde said in a statement, “This is going to be an in house procedure which does not contemplate representation of advocate on behalf of parties.” According to Justice Bobde, all the findings during this hearing will be completely confidential and will not be divulged to the common public.
CJI Gogoi denied all the charges and said they were completely baseless and he wouldn’t stoop so low as to dignify the chances with a response. However, over 33 personalities, including Medha Patkar, Arundhati Roy and Aruna Roy, asked for an independent inquiry to be held in the matter.
According to CJI Ranjan Gogoi, the case was filed against him because he was scheduled to hear some important cases.
A notice was sent to the woman who filed the complaint against CJI Gogoi.
Stay tuned for more updates.
