Ex-woman employee's silence hints at conspiracy against CJI, say sources
CJI Ranjan Gogoi
Day after the Supreme Court's in-house committee gave a clean chit to Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi over sexual harassment complaint by a woman employee, sources have questioned why the woman court staffer didn't file any formal complaint and went to the media instead.
Sources say the complainant worked as junior court assistant (an entry level clerical rank) for around seven weeks and during this period, had no occasion to meet the CJI. The sources also say that the woman never said anything about the alleged sexual harassment when she was arrested in connection with taking bribe in the name of providing employment in Supreme Court.
Another fact, sources say, reveals that in a complaint sent to Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) and the Lieutenant Governor in March this year, there was no mention of any sexual harassment.
All this proves allegation is false on the face of it and is part of a conspiracy to malign the image of the CJI, sources added.
The conspiracy was hatched because the CJI's bench handled several high profile cases such as the Rafale case, Ayodhya case, the case of CBI Director's appointment as also sub-judice cases such as contempt case against Congress presidetn Rahul Gandhi and other constitutional matters which did not go well with certain quarters, sources said.
The conspiracy acquired significance because it involves the dismissal of two employees of Supreme Court who are accused of tampering the judicial order, sources said, adding that the CJI had successfully contained irregularities in listing of cases and took an unprecedented stance against corruption. These dismissed employees, therefore, joined hands with fixers and planned the entire thing, sources said.
This comes on a day when the former woman employee of the Supreme Court demanded a copy of the in-house committee order, expressing "shock" over the clean chit given to Chief Justice of India. The ex-staffer asserted that she had a right to it.
The Bar Council of India (BCI) had earlier said that there was "something fishy" in the sexual harassment allegations levelled by her against CJI Gogoi. In a statement directed to members of legal fraternity, judges and people of the country, the BCI claimed that there was some very strong support behind the complaint against the CJI.
The in-house committee led by Justice S A Bobde had on Monday given a clean chit to CJI Gogoi in the sexual harassment case. The committee, also comprises Justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee, said it found no substance in the sexual harassment allegations against the CJI.
The Chief Justice appeared before the panel on May 1.