After a report in The Wire suggested that there are differences between Attorney General KK Venugopal and the Centre pertaining to the allegations of sexual harassment against the Chief Justice of India, Venugopal has denied the claims.
According to a report in The Wire, Venugopal had written a letter to all the judges of the Supreme Court recommending an external member panel be brought in to the in-house committee to look into the charges of sexual harassment.
The report also suggested that while the AG sent his views to SC judges in writing, the Centre expressed its disagreement and asked him to declare that the letter was personal. Following this, the AG reportedly wrote another letter saying that the “views were personal”.
However, speaking to The Quint, Venugopal said:
“I wrote a letter to the Chief Justice and the four senior most judges of the court. I suggested a committee of three retired judges to conduct the inquiry. The letter was written before the other committee was constituted. Everything else in The Wire article is untrue.”
What Does The Wire Report Say?
According to the report, the AG had recommended that any committee looking into the women’s allegations must have external members for the purpose of transparency and fairness.
The Wire report suggests that following the difference of opinion with the Centre, Venugopal may step down “to preserve his own longstanding reputation as a jurist and constitutional expert.”
However, Venugopal has called these claims “untrue”.
Allegations of Sexual Harassment Against CJI
On 6 May, the three-judge in-house Supreme Court inquiry panel headed by Justice SA Bobde dismissed the complaint of sexual harassment against CJI Gogoi.
A notice posted on the Supreme Court’s website said:
“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.”
After a clean chit was given to CJI, the female complainant had asked for a copy of the report which was denied to her.
The complainant is a former junior court assistant. She had 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.
(With inputs from The Wire)
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