SEXUAL Harassment Case Against CJI Is Conspiracy, Says AASU

Assam Students’ Union (AASU) has said the sexual harassment allegation against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi by his an ex-employee is a conspiracy and an attack on the judiciary as a whole. “We, the people of Assam and the Northeast, feel proud that the Chief Justice of India is from Assam. Such a conspiracy against him is very difficult to comprehend,” AASU adviser Samujjal Bhattacharya told reporters in Delhi on Monday. Ranjan Gogoi, who initiated his legal career in Gauhati High Court and  is the  first  person from the North-east  heading   the nation’s highest court  as its CJJ  is due to demit office  on November  17, 2019.Meanwhile, the complainant appeared before  a three –judge Bench headed by Sharad  Arvind  Bode and also comprising  Indira Banerjee and  Indu Malhotra on Saturday. It has put in place a SIT headed by retired SC judge Ananga Kumar   Patnaik. The Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) has sought action by the full court of the Supreme Court going into the allegations of sexual harassment against CJI Ranjan Gogoi. The SCBA, in its resolution, has stated that the proceedings held on April 20 by the bench comprising CJI Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna were in violation of the procedure established by law.“The Executive Committee of the Supreme Court Bar Association in its emergent meeting has resolved that procedure adopted for conducting the Court proceedings on April 20 in the matter of allegations made by ex-Employee of Supreme Court against the Chief Justice of India is in violation of procedure established by law as well as principles of natural justice,” the resolution stated. The SCBA has requested for the full court of the Supreme Court to take necessary steps required in this regard. The SCBA has also said that its executive committee will collate all the relevant materials and facts with respect to the allegations which may be considered by the executive committee in its next meeting. The former employee alleged that when she resisted CJI Gogoi’s sexual advances in October last year, she was fired and her husband and brother-in-law, both posted with the Delhi Police as head constables, were subsequently suspended. The CJI has dismissed the allegations calling them “unbelievable” and an attempt by a “bigger force to undermine the independence of the judiciary and deactivate the office of the CJI.”Justice  Patnaik ,who retired from SC in 2014,who is probing the alleged conspiracy in the sexual harassment charge against the Chief Justice of India  said he  will begin only after the in-house administrative inquiry into the woman’s allegations is concluded by three sitting judges.“No time limit has been set for when (my) inquiry report is to be submitted to the Supreme Court,” Justice Patnaik said. “The inquiry will start after the in-house committee on the charges the lady complainant has levelled is completed.” The Court said that the chiefs of CBI, Delhi Police and Intelligence Bureau will provide assistance to Justice Patnaik headed SIT.