SC to hear sexual harassment allegations against CJI Ranjan Gogoi on Tuesday

The Tuesday case list of court room no. 4 of Supreme Court has a case titled - "In Re: Matter of great public importance touching upon the independence of the Judiciary - mentioned by courts motion by Sh Tushar Mehat Solicitor General."

The suo motu proceedings, initiated by the Supreme Court in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, is listed before a fresh three-judge bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman and Deepak Gupta to be taken up at 10.30 AM.

Last week, Gogoi had convened an “extraordinary” sitting after reports emerged about the sexual harassment charges against him. The allegations by the woman, who had worked at Justice Gogoi’s home office in Delhi, date back to October last year.

When the matter was first heard on Saturday, the bench comprised Gogoi and Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna. But the fact that Gogoi had sat on the bench in a case which personally interested him, had led to strong objections from various quarters.

The Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association expressed its reservations relating to the suo motu proceedings carried out by CJI Gogoi and termed it “procedural impropriety.” The association, in its resolution, also said that the allegations ought to be dealt with as per the procedure established by the law which should be uniform for everyone. It had, therefore, called for a Full Court probe into the allegations.

The Supreme Court Employees Welfare Association, however, has came out in support of the CJI and said it “strongly condemns the false, fabricated and baseless allegations” against Gogoi.

The cause list indicates that the apex court will also take up today an affidavit filed by advocate Utsav Singh Bains, who claims that he was approached to frame allegations against the CJI Gogoi.