New Delhi: A three-judge inquiry panel probing the allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi by a former woman employee of the court has found no substance in the allegations and has given the Chief Justice a clean chit.
The in-house committee, comprising Justices S.A. Bobde, Indira Banerjee and Indu Malhotra, said it did not find any substance in the allegations, which first surfaced on April 19 when the alleged victim wrote letters to all the judges of the Supreme Court.
A statement from the Supreme Court secretary-general on Monday said: “The in-house committee has submitted its report dated May 5, in accordance with the in-house procedure, to the next senior judge competent to receive the report. A copy has also been sent to the CJI.”
The statement said: “The in-house committee has found no substance in the allegations made by the former Supreme Court employee in her complaint dated April 19.” It said as per the judgment in the case of Indira Jaising vs Supreme Court of India, the report of the committee was not liable to be made public.
On April 30, the woman who made the allegations opted out of the Supreme Court probe into the allegations against the Chief Justice, alleging that the atmosphere of the inquiry was very frightening.
The allegations of the dismissed staffer had appeared in news reports on April 20.
The complainant used to work at Justice Gogoi’s home office in New Delhi.
At a special sitting held on a Saturday, the CJI had described the allegations as “unbelievable” and said there was a “larger conspiracy” against him. He said some “bigger force” wanted to “deactivate” the office of the Chief Justice of India.
