A three judge bench of the Supreme Court will meet again at 3 pm on Wednesday after it held deliberations with the CBI director, Delhi Police Commissioner and the Intelligence Bureau chief to examine issues of judicial corruption and alleged attempts to frame Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi in a sexual harassment case.
The deliberations took place inside the judges’ chamber. The court was hearing the matter, registered suo motu after allegations of sexual harassment against CJI Ranjan Gogoi came to light.“It is not an enquiry. We are meeting these officers in secret. We don’t want any evidence to be disclosed,” the bench also comprising justices R F Nariman and Deepak Gupta said. The matter relates to the independence of the judiciary in the country”, the bench said according to agencies. Mishra has termed the entire episode as “very disturbing”.
A lawyer, Utsav Singh Bains, has submitted a report in the Supreme Court regarding his claims that there was a conspiracy to frame the Chief Justice of India in a sexual harassment case.The court perused the report of the lawyer, which was filed in a sealed cover, about allegations that there are some who manage verdicts.
On Tuesday, Bains was summoned for Wednesday when he showed up and adduced additional materials to corroborate his charges. Bains added that he also had CCTV grabs to show how he was approached with a bribe to help frame the CJI. Justice Mishra described these alleged events as “disturbing”, and said they should must get into the root of the issue.”There serious issues about the independence of the system…that it can be remotely controlled. If this is true then it is very disturbing,” said the judge.
Justice Mishra also lauded the CJI for paving the way of an in-house inquiry over the sexual harassment charges.
“This action has been taken by any CJI for the first time. No CJI had the courage to take such a step. In case there is a collusion of interested persons, this is serious. CJI wants to clean the system,” he added.
–India Legal Bureau