CJI Ranjan Gogoi sexual harassment case: In-house committee finds 'no substance' in charges made by former SC employee

In a major reprieve for Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, the Supreme Court’s in-house committee examining allegations of sexual harassment against him has found no substance in the charges against him.

A short statement released by the Supreme Court reads, “The in-house committee has found no substance in the allegations contained in the complaint dated 19.4.2019 of a former employee of the Supreme Court of India. Please take note that in case of Indira Jaising versus Supreme Court of India and Another 5 SSC 494, it has been held that the report of a committee constituted as part of the in-house procedure is not liable to be made public.”

Gogoi on Wednesday had appeared before the in-house inquiry committee looking into allegations of sexual harassment levelled against him.

The woman had worked at Gogoi’s home office in Delhi and the allegations were carried by news portals based on the affidavit by her.

Describing the allegations of sexual harassment against him as “unbelievable”, the CJI had convened the extraordinary hearing at the Supreme Court during which he said a larger conspiracy was behind it and he would not stoop so low even to deny these allegations.

Gogoi had said some “bigger force” wanted to “deactivate” the office of the CJI.

As this article by Shishir Tripathi points out, the legal precedent indicates that the complainant may have no option other than relying on the in-house committee for getting “justice.”

With inputs from PTI