New Delhi: Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi stated in his autobiography that the allegations of sexual harassment against him were an attempt to “threate” his work chief Judge Hearings before and before the Supreme Court by and from certain known circles were “extremely short” and virtually “no hearing”.
The former CJI was criticized for being part of a special bench set up to hear a suo motu case titled “In Re: Matter of Great Public Importance Touching on the Independence of the Judiciary” on Saturday, April 20, 2019 .
Speaking at the launch of his autobiography ‘Justice for the Judge’, Justice Gogoi He said on Wednesday that he should not have been part of the bench to hear the matter, saying “we all make mistakes” and there is no harm in admitting it.
“After all, I should not have been a judge on the bench (which heard the alleged sexual harassment case against him). My 45 years of hard work at the bar and bench was going to waste. It would have been better if I had not been part of the bench. we all make mistakes. There is no harm in accepting it” said the former CJI, who is now a Rajya Sabha MP.
In 2019, she was accused of sexual harassment by a former Supreme Court employee, and as per her allegations, the Supreme Court took suo moto cognizance and a three-judge bench headed by Justice gogoi was constituted.
Later, a three-judge in-house committee headed by Justice SA Bobde gave him a clean chit. The other members of the committee were two women judges – Justice Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee,
In the autobiography, the former CJI writes about the allegations of sexual harassment and says that when they came to light, the bench called a special meeting, but despite his presence on the bench, he refused to sign the order.
“This unscheduled hearing on Saturday, which was talked about a lot, was very short. In fact, the hearing was not taking place. I expressed my outrage over the allegations and said that it was an attempt by some unknown people to endanger the functioning of the CJI. At the end of the hearing, a very spontaneous order was passed,” he writes in the autobiography.
Gogoi, who is credited with curtailing the politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute on November 9, 2019, writes of what he did after the unanimous verdict.
“After the verdict, the general secretary organized a photo session at the judges’ gallery outside Court No. 1, under the Ashoka Chakra. In the evening I took the judges to the Taj Mansingh Hotel for dinner. We ate Chinese food and shared a bottle of wine, which was the best available out there. I chose the tab being the eldest, ”he writes in the autobiography.
The book also deals with the dramatic and unprecedented press conference of January 12, 2018 against the functioning of the then CJI Dipak Misra.
The presser was held at the residence of Justice Chelameswar and was addressed by Justices Chelameswar, Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph.
He writes in the book that although he believed it was the right thing to do, he did not “expect” a press conference, but only meeting with a few journalists.
“Friday, January 12, 2018, was a varied day. After some sort of work around 12 noon, I went to the residence of Justice Chelameswar. What I saw there shocked me: the press was in full attendance, with several cameras installed on the back lawn of their residence, which was the meeting place. There were many OB vans outside,” writes Gogoi.
“I didn’t expect it; what I understood from Justice Chelameswar’s expression ‘Let us meet the press’ was a meeting with some journalists. There was no way out anyway. Not that I wanted to back down. “I was committed to addressing the press and I believe that till date, given the circumstances, it was the right thing to do, though it was very unusual,” said the former CJI.
Justice Gogoi, who hails from Dibrugarh in Assam, became the CJI on 3 October 2018 and demitted office on 17 November the following year.
The former CJI was criticized for being part of a special bench set up to hear a suo motu case titled “In Re: Matter of Great Public Importance Touching on the Independence of the Judiciary” on Saturday, April 20, 2019 .
Speaking at the launch of his autobiography ‘Justice for the Judge’, Justice Gogoi He said on Wednesday that he should not have been part of the bench to hear the matter, saying “we all make mistakes” and there is no harm in admitting it.
“After all, I should not have been a judge on the bench (which heard the alleged sexual harassment case against him). My 45 years of hard work at the bar and bench was going to waste. It would have been better if I had not been part of the bench. we all make mistakes. There is no harm in accepting it” said the former CJI, who is now a Rajya Sabha MP.
In 2019, she was accused of sexual harassment by a former Supreme Court employee, and as per her allegations, the Supreme Court took suo moto cognizance and a three-judge bench headed by Justice gogoi was constituted.
Later, a three-judge in-house committee headed by Justice SA Bobde gave him a clean chit. The other members of the committee were two women judges – Justice Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee,
In the autobiography, the former CJI writes about the allegations of sexual harassment and says that when they came to light, the bench called a special meeting, but despite his presence on the bench, he refused to sign the order.
“This unscheduled hearing on Saturday, which was talked about a lot, was very short. In fact, the hearing was not taking place. I expressed my outrage over the allegations and said that it was an attempt by some unknown people to endanger the functioning of the CJI. At the end of the hearing, a very spontaneous order was passed,” he writes in the autobiography.
Gogoi, who is credited with curtailing the politically sensitive Ayodhya land dispute on November 9, 2019, writes of what he did after the unanimous verdict.
“After the verdict, the general secretary organized a photo session at the judges’ gallery outside Court No. 1, under the Ashoka Chakra. In the evening I took the judges to the Taj Mansingh Hotel for dinner. We ate Chinese food and shared a bottle of wine, which was the best available out there. I chose the tab being the eldest, ”he writes in the autobiography.
The book also deals with the dramatic and unprecedented press conference of January 12, 2018 against the functioning of the then CJI Dipak Misra.
The presser was held at the residence of Justice Chelameswar and was addressed by Justices Chelameswar, Gogoi, MB Lokur and Kurian Joseph.
He writes in the book that although he believed it was the right thing to do, he did not “expect” a press conference, but only meeting with a few journalists.
“Friday, January 12, 2018, was a varied day. After some sort of work around 12 noon, I went to the residence of Justice Chelameswar. What I saw there shocked me: the press was in full attendance, with several cameras installed on the back lawn of their residence, which was the meeting place. There were many OB vans outside,” writes Gogoi.
“I didn’t expect it; what I understood from Justice Chelameswar’s expression ‘Let us meet the press’ was a meeting with some journalists. There was no way out anyway. Not that I wanted to back down. “I was committed to addressing the press and I believe that till date, given the circumstances, it was the right thing to do, though it was very unusual,” said the former CJI.
Justice Gogoi, who hails from Dibrugarh in Assam, became the CJI on 3 October 2018 and demitted office on 17 November the following year.
,