Chief Justice Of India Sexual Harassment Case: Complainant Withdraws From Panel Probe

The former employee of Supreme Court who had accused Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment said she would no longer participate in the proceedings of the court’s in-house inquiry committee probing her allegations.

The accusation surfaced on April 20 after four media outlets published the affidavit that the complainant had sent to judges of the apex court saying she had been subjected to sexual harassment by Justice Gogoi on two separate occasions in October last year.

Subsequently, the Supreme Court held a special hearing on the mention of Tushar Mehta, the solicitor general of India. A three-judge bench presided over the hearing, led by Chief Justice Gogoi and Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjeev Khanna.

Later, Delhi-based lawyer Utsav Bains filed an affidavit claiming that there was a conspiracy to frame Justice Gogoi on sexual harassment. Following which, the top court appointed retired Justice AK Patnaik to inquire Bains’ allegations.

Separately, the Supreme Court set up a three-member in-house inquiry committee comprising Justice SA Bobde, Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice Indu Malhotra to probe the allegations of sexual harassment against Justice Gogoi. Justice Malhotra was appointed to the panel after Justice NV Ramana recused himself.