Objection, My Lord

Only an impartial probe into the allegations against the CJI will help the Supreme Court uphold its credibility.

- Soni Mishra

RANJAN GOGOI WAS among the four Supreme Court judges who shocked the nation with an unprecedented news conference on January 12, 2018. The crux of the grievance they made public that day was that the manner in which chief justice of India Dipak Misra was administrating the court was harming the independence of the judiciary. The judges claimed that external forces were influencing the functioning of the court.

Over a year later, Gogoi, who succeeded Misra as chief justice on October 3, 2018, presided over an urgent hearing on April 20, a Saturday. Usually, the court does not have sittings during the weekend. The issue was a complaint made by an ex-employee of the court against Gogoi, accusing him of sexual harassment. She had sworn an affidavit detailing the accusation and sent it to 22 judges of the Supreme Court, seeking an independent inquiry into the matter.

The notice for the special sitting had specified that the bench would comprise Justices Gogoi, Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna. It was also stated that the hearing was being done on a mention made by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta.

Gogoi, during the hearing, expressed his anguish, rubbished the allegations and claimed that it was all a part of a bigger conspiracy to destroy the independence of the judiciary and the office of the CJI. “I don’t think this can be a dismissed employee of the Supreme Court,” he said. “This has to be a bigger issue. Considering that very, very important cases that are due to be heard next week, they want to destabilise the office of the CJI.”