CJI Accuser Pulls Out Of Inquiry Panel Hearing

New Delhi: The former Supreme Court employee who accused Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment on Tuesday pulled out of the three-judge inquiry panel hearing.

The Telegraph quoted her as saying: “…Due to serious concerns and reservations, I am no longer participating in these in-house committee proceedings…

“In the committee hearing that took place on 26th April 2019, the Judges… told me that this was neither an in-house committee proceeding, nor a proceeding under the Vishakha Guidelines and that it was an informal proceeding…

“The committee declined my request for video recording of the committee proceedings. I was also clearly told that no lawyer/support person could be present with me during the committee hearing…

She also alleged that when she left the first committee hearing, two men on a motorcycle followed her. She wrote a detailed letter on this to the committee members and requested to treat the committee’s proceedings as a formal inquiry and to allow her to be accompanied by her lawyer.

But in the hearing that followed, she was not allowed to take a lawyer along. “I was repeatedly asked by the committee as to why I had made this complaint of sexual harassment so late. I found the atmosphere of the committee very frightening and I was very nervous because of being confronted and questioned by three Supreme Court Judges and without even the presence of my lawyer/support person….

“I was also not shown what was being recorded and no copy of my statement recorded on 26th and 29th April has been given to me till date.

“I felt I was not likely to get justice from this committee and so I am no longer participating in the three-judge committee proceedings,” she said.