Harassment charge against CJI: Justice Bobde to conduct an inquiry into allegation

New Delhi: Justice S.A. Bobde, the senior-most judge of the Supreme Court, was Tuesday appointed to conduct an in-house inquiry into the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

When contacted, Justice Bobde, who is next to the CJI in seniority, confirmed the development. He said being the number two judge, the Chief Justice of India has appointed him to look into the allegations of sexual harassment charges levelled by a former woman staff.

Justice Bobde told PTI that he has decided to form a panel by inducting two apex court judges — N V Ramana and Indira Banerjee. “I decided to have Justice Ramana in the panel as he is next to me in the seniority and Justice Banerjee as she is a woman judge,” Justice Bobde said.

He said he has already issued notice to the woman who had written letters to the judges and sworn on affidavit about the alleged sexual harassment.

The first hearing will be conducted on Friday and the apex court secretary general has also been asked to be ready with all documents and materials.

“This is going to be an in-house procedure which does not contemplate representation of advocate on behalf of parties. It is not a formal judicial proceeding,” Justice Bobde said.

He clarified that there is no time frame to to complete the inquiry and future course of action will depend on “what comes out of the inquiry” which will be “confidential.