HIGHLIGHTS
- A three-judge in-house SC panel dismissed a sacked woman employee’s sexual harassment complaint against CJI Gogoi, finding “no substance” in her allegations
- The complainant rejected the finding and termed it a “grave injustice to her”
NEW DELHI: A three-judge in-house Supreme Court panel headed by Justice SA Bobde on Monday dismissed a sacked SC woman employee’s sexual harassment complaint against CJI Ranjan Gogoi, finding “no substance” in her allegations.
“The in-house committee has found no substance in the allegations contained in the complaint dated April 19, 2019, of a former employee of the Supreme Court of India,” a statement issued by SC secretary-general Sanjeev Kalgaonkar said. The complainant rejected the finding and termed it a “grave injustice to her”.
The panel, comprising Justices Bobde, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee, submitted its report to Justice Arun Mishra, the third most senior judge in the SC after the CJI. The report was submitted to Justice Mishra as the second most senior judge, Justice NV Ramana, who was initially part of the in-house inquiry panel, recused himself after the complainant said he was close to the CJI.
Justice Bobde set up the panel after the CJI assigned him administrative and judicial powers to deal with the inquiry and cases arising from the harassment complaint. In writing its report, the three-judge panel considered a large number of documents, including the complainant’s 28-page affidavit sent to all judges on April 19 complaining of alleged sexual harassment on October 11, 2018, by the CJI, and her statement recorded before the probe panel.
