Woman levels allegation of sexual harassment against Justice Ranjan Gogoi, CJI says ‘bigger force’ acting to ‘deactivate his office’ 

Justice Ranjan Gogoi.

New Delhi: A woman, 35, has made charges of sexual advances against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in an affidavit. The woman, a former junior court assistant, sent the affidavit to 22 judges of the Supreme Court, on Friday, alleging that Justice Gogoi had made sexual advances on her at his residence office on October 10 and 11, 2018.

In the affidavit, which was leaked to the media [1, 2, 3, 4], she wrote: 

“Though I usually wear a uniform of black and white clothing, on that day since it was the first day of Navratri, I had worn an orange kurta and dupatta. The CJI referring to my clothes, told me, “You are looking pretty good today.”  The CJI asked me to come and stand next to him, he got up from his chair. The CJI then asked me, “What can you do for me?”, I kept repeating that I was very grateful and that everybody in my family was very happy. The CJI then slid his hand from the back of my head, along my back to my hipline, till my lower back. I immediately froze and my body stiffened. I think the CJI sensed this, and so he immediately pulled both my cheeks, like one would do to a child. He told me that he is like this with his daughter too.”

The websites which published parts of the allegations in the affidavit didn’t name the woman.

Reacting over the allegations against the chief justice, the secretary general of the Supreme Court, in an email response to Scroll.in, denied  the allegations and called them “completely and absolutely false and scurrilous”.

The email also said: “It is also very possible that there are mischievous forces behind all this, with an intention to malign the institution.”

After sexual advances allegation, A special bench of Supreme Court led by Supreme Court Of India Ranjan Gogoi, justice Sanjeev Khanna and justice Arun Mishra called an emergency hearing.

Justice Gogoi strongly rejected the sexual advancement allegation that has been made against him.

Legal news and updates website Bar & Bench reported Justice Gogoi as saying that the independence of the judiciary is “under threat” and it “cannot be made a scapegoat”.

Suspecting that there is a conspiracy behind the woman’s allegations, Justice Gogoi said,  “There has to be bigger force behind this, they want to deactivate the office of the chief justice of India”. He said the apex court is scheduled to hear important cases under his bench and he will preside over them. 

He said, “I will sit on this chair and discharge my judicial functions without any fear ... Things have gone too far. Judiciary cannot be made a scapegoat.”

Justice Gogoi also said, “This is unbelievable. I don't think I should stoop low even to deny these allegations,” adding he will not pass any order and the senior judge Arun Mishra will dictate the order.

Justice Gogoi said that since there is no case of corruption against him people are trying to frame something and found this.

Talking about his record as a servant of the judiciary, Justice Gogoi said, “After 20 years of selfless service as judge, I have bank balance of ₹6.80 lakh. My peon has more money than that ... Is this a reward the Chief Justice gets after 20 years?”

The Chief Justice said the woman who made the allegations against him has a criminal background and that there are two police cases against her.

The special bench of Chief Justice Gogoi, Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Sanjeev Khanna refrained from passing any judicial order “at this stage”. It said, “We are not passing any judicial order at this moment. We however ask media to show restraint, responsibility and wisdom so that independence of judiciary is not affected by baseless allegations.”

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta then urged that the court register a case under his name and pursue the matter. The court said that it would look into it.

The full court order below:

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