CJI Sexual Harassment Case : A Timeline

Today, the in-house committee of the Supreme Court gave a clean chit to the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in the sexual harassment allegations raised against him by a former Junior Court Assistant.It may not possible to say that the issue has attained a quietus, as the opaque manner in which the Committee held proceedings, even after the decision of the woman complainant to refuse participation due to apprehensions of bias, will continue to be debated intensely amongst legal fraternity and general public during the coming days.Here is a brief time line of all that transpired in this episode so far.April 20, SaturdayWhat would have been a sleepy Saturday morning turned out to be tumultuous, as few online portals published the contents of an affidavit prepared by the former SC staff, copies of which were sent to all Supreme Court judges. In her affidavit, she alleged that the Chief Justice of India had made unwelcome sexual advances at her and when she resisted, she was subjected to frequent transfers and was eventually dismissed. She further alleged that the CJI was persecuting her family as well, and had caused the suspension of her husband from service of Delhi police.Immediately after the publication of these reports in media, the Supreme Court convened an urgent hearing at Court No.1, with a bench composition of CJI Gogoi, Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna. The notice by registry had stated that the sitting was to deal with a matter of 'great public importance touching upon the independence of the judiciary', which was mentioned by Solicitor General Thushar Mehta.During the session, the CJI denied the allegations and termed them as an attempt to "deactivate the judiciary". The Attorney General and the Solicitor General expressed their solidarity with the CJI.After the session, the Court passed an order (signed only by Justices Mishra and Khanna, with conspicuous omission of CJI Gogoi), advising media to exercise "restraint".Facebook post by Utsav Singh BainsOn the evening of April 20, Utsav Singh Bains, a Delhi-based lawyer, posted in Facebook that the allegations against CJI were part of a conspiracy. He said that he will file an affidavit in SC with evidence of "conspiracy against the CJI by a lobby of disgruntled judges, SC fixers, corporate scamsters and a few corrupt Politicians - All who have meticulously planned the conspiracy to force the CJI to resign as their 'Corrupt works were not going through in SC".April 22, MondayBains filed an affidavit in the SC stating that he was offered Rs.1.5 Crores by SC fixers to frame allegations against the CJI and that it was plot by a nexus of bench fixers and corporates.Lawyers bodies Supreme Court Advocates on Record Association, Supreme Court Bar Association passed resolutions condemning the process adopted by the SC to deal with the matter. They demand a probe following procedure established by law.The SC Employees Welfare Association passed resolution supporting the CJI, terming the allegations baseless.April 23, TuesdaySuo moto case taken by SC in respect of the allegations was considered by a special bench of Justices Arun Mishra, R F Nariman and Deepak Gupta. The bench sought for the appearance of Utsav Bains the next day.CJI constituted an in-house panel of Justices S A Bobde, N V Ramana and Indira Banerjee to probe the allegations against him.April 24, WednesdayThe special bench of Justice Arun Mishra, R F Nariman and Deepak Gupta heard Bains and the Attorney General in the matter. The Attorney General pointed out certain deviations made in the affidavit filed by Bains from his earlier Facebook posts.Bains handed over certain materials to Court in a "sealed cover". The Court summoned the chiefs of CBI, Delhi Police and Intelligence Bureue to chambers for discussion. Sharp exchanges occurred between Bains, the AG and the bench during the hearing, where Justice Nariman chastised Bains for using intemperate language at AG. . Bains offered to file an additional affidavit the next day to substantiate his allegations that disgruntled employees, particularly Tapan Kumar Chakraborty and Manav Sharma, who were dismissed for tampering with the order in Anil Ambani's case, were behind the conspiracy.Complainant objects to inclusion of Justice RamanaThe complainant woman addressed a letter to Justice Bobde, expressing concerns about the procedure to be followed by the panel. She said that she had concerns whether the panel will be biased and objected to inclusion of Justice Ramana in it on the ground that he was a close friend of the CJI.She also said that the news reports about the comments made by the judges and top law officers of the government during the special sitting held in suo moto proceedings on Saturday have left her "frightened and helpless" and that she was worried if her complaint has been "declared to be false by the Hon'ble Judges and senior law officers" without hearing her.The panel issued notice to the complainant asking...

CJI Sexual Harassment Case : A Timeline

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