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Allegations Against CJI: Ex-SC Employee Withdraws From In-House Inquiry

"But due to serious concerns and reservations, I am no longer participating in these in-house committee proceedings," she said in a statement.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images

The former Supreme Court employee, who had levelled allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, said on Tuesday she was withdrawing from an inquiry being conducted by an in-house panel.

The employee said in a statement that Tuesday was the third day she had gone to participate in the probe before the three-member panel headed by Justice SA Bobde.

“But due to serious concerns and reservations, I am no longer participating in these in-house committee proceedings,” she said in a statement.

She further said that she was “compelled to walk out of the committee proceedings today because the committee seemed not to appreciate the fact that this was not an ordinary complaint but was a complaint of sexual harassment against a sitting CJI and therefore it was require to adopt procedure that would ensure fairness and equality in the highly unequal circumstances that I am placed.” (Read the full text of her statement on Scroll)

The woman added that she was not allowed to have her lawyer present during the proceedings and her request to have audio/video recordings of the proceedings was rejected.

She appeared before the three-member panel for the second time on 29 April. The first proceeding by the panel was held on 26 April.

The women, in her statement today, said that on 26 April, the “judges in the committee told her this was neither an in-house committee proceeding, nor a proceeding under the Vishakha Guidelines and that it was an informal proceeding.”

On 25 April, Justice Indu Malhotra was appointed a new member of the committee after Justice N V Ramana recused himself.

The development followed the complainant’s letter to the panel, expressing reservation over the inclusion of Justice Ramana on the grounds that he is a close friend of the CJI and a regular visitor to his house.

(With PTI inputs)

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.