CJI sexual harassment case: Section 144 imposed in SC after protests break out

Protests broke out outside the Supreme Court on Tuesday (May 7), a day after an in-house panel of the court cleared Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sex harassment allegations, NDTV reported. The protesters included lawyers and members of women’s organisations.

Section 144 was imposed on the Supreme Court campus, soon after the protests erupted. The police banned the gathering of any large group at the area in central Delhi’s Lutyens’ Zone, the NDTV report stated.

A few protesters courted arrest. Bar and Bench reported that around 40 women protesters have been taken to the Mandir Marg police station.

While clearing the Chief Justice of any charges, the three-judge committee on Monday (May 6) had stated that there was no substance in the allegations of the former employee of the Supreme Court.

The report of the committee will not be made public, since as per the 2003 judgment in Indira Jaisingh vs Supreme Court of India, the report of a committee constituted as part of the in-house procedure is not liable to be made public, the notice issued on Monday stated.