CJI Ranjan Gogoi accused of sexual abuse

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Saturday held an extraordinary hearing after a former employee of the apex court accused the Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi, of sexual harassment on two occasions in October last year and persecution after she resisted his alleged sexual advances.

A three-judge bench, headed by Chief Justice Gogoi himself, was constituted to deal with the matter following a notice by the court’s registry that the sitting was to deal with a matter of “great public importance touching upon the independence of the judiciary”.

At the special hearing — prompted by the fact that copies of a sworn affidavit by the woman sent to the residences of 22 apex court judges became public on Saturday — Justice Gogoi rubbished the allegations as “unbelievable” and hinted that there may be a “bigger force behind this” that wants to “deactivate the office of CJI.”

The CJI also hinted that the allegations of sexual harassment against him could be due to the fact that the Bench led by him will deal with “many, many sensitive cases” next week.

Supreme Court judges have held press conferences in the past, or issued a statement to the press to refute personal charges. That the CJI choose to sit in his own court, with two male judges, to deny allegations of sexual harassment and more drew a lot of criticism from lawyers and judicial activists on social media.

“This is unbelievable. I don’t think I should stoop low even to deny these allegation,” he said.

The woman’s allegations were carried by several news websites on Saturday, along with a response from the Supreme Court’s secretary general who refuted the allegations.