Three-Member Judges’ Panel Led By Justice SA Bobde To Look Into Sexual Harassment Allegations Against CJI Gogoi

The Supreme Court Justice SA Bobde will head a three-member committee to conduct inquiry into the allegations of sexual harassment by a former employee against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, reports The Hindu. The other member in the panel will be Justices NV Ramana and Indira Banerjee.

According to the report, Justice Bobde has taken a central role in dealing with the crisis that erupted on 20 April when some websites published the women’s allegations against the CJI.

On the judicial side, a special bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Rohinton Nariman and Deepak Gupta was also constituted on 23 April by Justice Bobde to deal with the suo motu petition titled ‘In a matter of great public importance touching upon the independence of the judiciary’.

As per the report, the meeting regarding formation of the committee went on till late evening on 23 April. The report cited a highly placed source in the apex court as saying that in the meeting, it was decided that the immediate task was to contain the damage caused by the allegations to the judiciary and streamline the court.

The court, according to the source, would also evolve a mechanism through a full court to safeguard judges from external attacks as well as to fairly look into the veracity of such complaints and allegations against the judiciary.