A three member committee of Supreme Court judges formed to look into into the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi will meet on Friday.
The committee set up up on Tuesday is headed by Justice S A Bobde and includes Justices N V Ramana and Indira Banerjee. The decision to set up the committee was was taken at a meeting of the full court yesterday full. Late last week, a former employee of the top court had levelled charges of sexual harassment against the CJI. She has also been , has been issued notice to be present. The secretary-general of the Supreme Court has been asked to attend the meeting with all records. The three-judge committee, which will hold the inquiry in-camera, is expected to examine the Chief Justice and the complainant woman. If needed, the committee can seek depositions from others.
At present, there is no specific rule or law to deal with complaints of sexual harassment against judges of the Supreme Court or high courts. But the decision of a full court will have a binding effect.A three-judge bench of Justices Mishra, Nariman and Deepak Gupta on Tuesday issued a notice to advocate Utsav Bains, who on Monday had filed a sworn affidavit claiming that a conspiracy had been hatched against the Chief Justice.
Bains blamed an airline founder, gangster Dawood Ibrahim and an alleged fixer and had claimed that he was offered up to Rs 1.5 crore by one Ajay to level the allegations against Justice Gogoi.
The bench asked Bains to appear in the court on Wednesday and produce materials in support of his claims. The court directed Delhi police to provide protection to Bains as he apprehended a threat to his life from the alleged conspirators.
–India Legal Bureau
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