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Editor’s Note

CJI in the dock as allegations

of sexual harassment surface

With the Delhi high Court the CJI involving disgruntled court employees and
dismissing on April 29 a PIL filed other ‘fixers’. He alleged that he was offered crores by
by an NGO, media is free to report someone to file a false complaint against the CJI. The
developments in the sexual har- complainant has raised the issue of alleged proximity
assment allegations against Chief of one of the in-house committee members with Gogoi.
Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. The The said Judge has now recused himself to make way for
allegations of sexual harassment a woman judge.
by a former woman employee of the There are certain lacunas. Firstly, there has been no
Supreme Court against the CJI that are provision to deal with a situation where the CJI himself
being heard by a Special Bench comprising Justices is the subject of a complaint and that in-house inquiry is
Arun Mishra, Rohintan Fali Nariman, and Deepak Gup- not in keeping with the Sexual Harassment of Women
ta, have stunned the nation. The allegations are grave at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redres-
because these involve the credibility of the CJI, the sal) Act, 2013. The committee formed under the Sexual
highest constitutional functionary and head of the Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2013 in the
country’s Apex Court. Since these charges are obnox- Supreme Court can probe only court employees, not
ious and involve the CJI, these call for a thorough probe judges. There is a grey area in probing the CJI. Already,
to clear the air. the CJI Gogoi has got flak for presiding over an extraor-
The reputation of CJI, earned through years of exem- dinary judicial hearing in a matter concerning him
plary work should not be allowed to be maligned by the showing lack of a mechanism to handle such cases.
accusations. It calls for upholding the highest principles The case of Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi is not
of probity and due process of law to find out whether the first case of this kind, a former Judge of the Supreme
it was a conspiracy and a nexus to tarnish the CJI. Cit- Court AK Ganguly had to quit after a law intern levelled
ing, his poor bank balance and his impeccable career allegations of sexual harassment against him. A lady
as a Judge, the CJI has said that the independence of the judicial officer of Madhya Pradesh accused the High
judiciary was under a “serious threat because some Court judge SK Gangele of sexual harassment. Howev-
forces wanted to deactivate the office of the CJI”. er, a three-member inquiry committee constituted by
In the meanwhile, Utsav Singh Bains, an advocate, Rajya Sabha found the charges ‘not proved’.
also alleged in an affidavit, a larger conspiracy against
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Volume 16, Issue no. 9, 1-15 may 2019, RELEASEd on 1 may, numbER oF pAgES IncLudIng covER 68
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Add.indd 5 25/09/18 4:53 PM