Sexual harassment charges: CJI asks media to show restraint; no order issued
The Supreme Court on Saturday (April 20) said the court is not passing any order on the sexual harassment allegations made against the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi but asked the media to show “restraint, responsibility and wisdom” so that the independence of the judiciary is not affected by baseless allegations.
The order read, “We refrain from passing any judicial order at this moment leaving it to the wisdom of the media to show restraint, act responsibly as is expected from them and accordingly decide what should or should not be published as wild and scandalous allegations undermine and irreparably damage reputation and negate independence of judiciary. We would therefore at this juncture leave it to the media to take off such material which is undesirable.”
Earlier, at the special sitting convened on April 20 after a scroll.in report containing the allegations, Justice Gogoi said: “Things have gone too far. Judiciary cannot be made scapegoat.”
“Less than 10 hours notice was given to me to respond. What I want to tell citizens is that the judiciary of this country is under serious threat,” CJI Ranjan Gogoi is reported to have said. “This is unbelievable. I should not stoop low even in denying it. A bank balance of ₹6.8 lakh is all I have. Independence of the judiciary is under serious threat. I had to tell this from the judicial seat,” he said.
A three-judge bench headed by Justice Gogoi was constituted after a sworn affidavit by the woman — copies of which were sent to the residences of 22 apex court judges — became public on April 20. During the hearing in CJI’s court No 1, an unfazed Justice Gogoi said the allegations are unbelievable. “This is unbelievable. I don’t think I should stoop low even to deny these allegation,” he said, adding, “There has to be bigger force behind this, they want to deactivate the office of CJI. “The apex court registry in a notice earlier in the day said a three-bench headed by the CJI was being set up to deal with a “matter of great public importance touching upon the independence of judiciary”. The bench also comprised justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna.
The former employee has described two incidents of alleged molestation by Gogoi in her affidavit, both of which allegedly took place in October 2018, only days after he was appointed as the CJI. Confirming that a letter by the woman has been received by several sitting judges, Supreme Court secretary general Sanjeev Sudhakar Kalgaonkar said all the allegations made by the woman concerned are malafide and have no basis.
Stating that it was leaving it to the wisdom of media to act responsibly on allegations of sexual harassment against the CJI, the court said the independence of judiciary is under “very, very severe” threat. “After 20 years of selfless service as judge, I have bank balance of ₹6.80 lakh,” he said. “Nobody can catch me on money, people have to find something and they have found this: This is the reward CJI gets after 20 years of service,” Justice Gogoi. He made it clear that he will preside over the CJI court and discharge his judicial functions without any fear. “I have taken this unusual and extraordinary step of sitting in court today because things have gone too far,” he said. Judiciary can’t be made a scapegoat, says CJI Gogoi.
