A Glance At The Allegations On 46th Chief Justice Of India.

On 18th November 1954 the 46th Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi born at Dibrugarh, Assam. He is the first person from North Eastern India to become the CJI.

He gave significant judgment in the case of Govindaswamy Vs State of Kerala by awarding a maximum life imprisonment for rape under section :- 376 of Indian Penal Code (IPC). However his term of CJI ends on 17th November 2019.

Details of Allegation :-

On April 19, a 35-year-old woman who is a former junior court assistant of the Supreme Court sent a detailed Affidavit alleging harassment made by Ranjan Gogoi to the residences of 22 judges of the Supreme Court. She was employed in the Apex Court from May 1, 2014 to December 21, 2018.Alleging that she was harassed at CJI's home andremoved from her job without assigning any reason.

On April 20, in response to the affidavit, it is said that CJI Gogoi along with Justice Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna held an unprecedented hearing. CJI Gogoi termed the allegations as “unbelievable” in the hearing.

On April 22, Attorney General of India K K Venugopal had written a letter to the CJI and next four senior judges stating the sexual harassment allegation against the CJI should be proved by a panel of three retired judges where among them there should be one woman.

On April 23, a panel of three sitting judges namely Justice Bobde, Justice Ramana and Justice Indira Banerjee. However, Justice Ramana withdrew from the panel after raising apprehension of bias as he is close to the CJI by the woman. So he was replaced by Justice Indu Malhotra. It shows that the Attorney General’s suggestion was discarded by the Court.

On April 30, the woman (complainant) announced that she was walking out of the enquiry expressing lack of confidence on the three judge in-house panel. Moreover in a press release she said that she felt "intimidated and nervous in the presence of three Hon'ble Judges of the Supreme Court and without having a lawyer or support person"."I felt I was not likely to get justice from this committee and so I am no longer participating in the 3 Judge Committee proceedings", the complainant said.

On May 6, the in-house panel cleared the all charges and gave a clean chit on CJI Gogoi as it is found no substance in the allegations.