You are playing with fire, Supreme Court warns

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday appointed a retired top court judge, Justice A.K. Patnaik, to probe allegations that disgruntled employees had ganged up to “frame” CJI Ranjan Gogoi on the false charge of sexual harassment after their dismissal from service.

The bench also reiterated that the outcome of the inquiry shall not affect the in-house procedure/ inquiry pending on the administrative side in any manner whatsoever.

Earlier in the day, Justice Arun Mishra voiced concern over attempts to “manage” the Supreme Court by money and muscle power, and said there were rich and powerful people who thought they could bludgeon and blackmail the court into submission, but little did they know that they were playing with fire.

Justice Mishra made these oral observations in response to an affidavit filed by lawyer Utsav Singh Bains.