Former staffwrites to SC judges, alleges sexual harassment by CJI

Justice Gogoi denies charge, suspects ‘bigger force’ at work to ‘deactivate’ his office.

- Krishnadas Rajagopal

Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Saturday presided over an urgent special hearing of the Supreme Court, called at a moment’s notice, to reject allegations of sexual harassment published against him by some online news portals. He asserted that the “judiciary cannot be made a scapegoat” and said “things have gone too far”.

Chief Justice Gogoi even wondered aloud whether a “bigger force” might be at work to “deactivate the office of Chief Justice of India”.

“There has to be a bigger, bigger force behind this. There are two offices — one of the Prime Minister and one of the CJI. They [people behind this controversy] want to deactivate the office of the CJI,” Justice Gogoi said, adding, “This is the reward a CJI gets after 20 years of service.”

Early Saturday morning saw a sudden rush of events soon after the news websites published the allegations of a former Supreme Court employee. She accused the top judge of making sexual advances towards her while she was working as a lower division clerk at his official residence last year.

Complainant dismissed

The woman, reportedly in her mid-thirties, complained of subsequent police harassment after she raised her voice about it. She was also dismissed from service.

The former employee, the reports said, had written to 22 Supreme Court judges on April 19 about her allegations. One of the websites reported that the SecretaryGeneral of the court had denied her claims and called them “completely and absolutely false and scurrilous”.