NEW DELHI: Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday appeared before an in-house inquiry committee looking into allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him by a former woman employee of the Supreme Court, an official source said.
This is for the first time in the history of Indian judiciary that a CJI appeared before a committee over allegations of sexual harassment, the source said.
“A letter of request was issued to the Chief Justice of India asking him to meet the committee and he responded to it and he met the committee on this issue,” the source told PTI.
The in-house inquiry committee is headed by Justice SA Bobde, who is the senior-most judge in the Supreme Court after the CJI, and its two other members are women judges of the apex court — justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee.
The source said, “the CJI met the committee and he has done the needful.” The woman, who levelled the allegations, walked out of the inquiry committee on Tuesday, raising objections over various issues, including denial of her lawyer’s presence. The source said the woman opted not to participate in the proceedings despite being told about the consequence that the committee can go ahead with its task ex-parte. She had appeared before the panel for three days.
“The fact that the committee would proceed ex-parte was told to the woman. She said okay and opted herself out from participating,” the source said.
The woman in a press statement on Tuesday described as ‘very frightening’ the atmosphere of the in-house inquiry committee and also expressed apprehension that she was ‘not likely to get justice’ from the panel. (PTI)
