Two days after a 35-year-old woman wrote to 22 judges of the Supreme Court, alleging that Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi had made sexual advances at her at his residence office in October 2018, social activist Agnivesh on Sunday, 22 April, said the CJI must continue to hear the cases listed in his court, Scroll reported.
"He (CJI Gogoi) has no option but to do so (hear the cases). Otherwise, he would, out of idealistic notions of propriety, create a bad legacy for his successors for the generations to come," Agnivesh said in a statement, adding that there could be a “sinister intent to deactivate” the CJI's office.
Agnivesh termed the situation an "unprecedented crisis" for the Indian judiciary and advocated setting up of a Committee to look into the allegations against CJI Gogoi.
"A three-member Committee comprising retired Supreme Court judges (not sitting SC judges) must look into the allegations with exemplary impartiality and judicial objectivity, and establish the truth of the matter," he said, adding that no margin should be left for any suspicion that justice has been short-changed either way.
He also appealed to the media to practise restraint in the matter, saying "nothing that undermines the foundation of our constitutional democracy must be done, promoted or countenanced, even unwittingly".
Earlier, on Friday, 19 April, the former junior court assistant submitted an affidavit to 22 judges of the Supreme Court, outlining how Gogoi sexually harassed her, and how she was further victimised and dismissed from her post.
She alleged that Gogoi made sexual advances at her while they were at his residence office on 10 and 11 October, last year. The Chief Justice, however, through the office of the Secretary General of the Supreme Court, has denied the allegations, calling them “completely and absolutely false and scurrilous”.
(With inputs from Scroll)
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