SC seeks response from advocate who alleged foulplay in sexual harassment charges against CJI Gogoi

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought response from advocate Utsav Bains, who claimed that there is a conspiracy to frame up the Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi in a sexual harassment case.

A three-judge bench comprising Justices Arun Mishra, Rohinton Fali Nariman and Deepak Gupta issued a notice to Bains and posted the matter for hearing tomorrow.

The Bench also sought the presence of the advocate Utsav Bains before it on April 24.

The Apex court bench was hearing a case relating to the sexual harassment allegations against Gogoi. The charges have been levelled by a dismissed woman employee of the Supreme Court.

Advocate Utsav Bains on Monday filed an affidavit in the top court saying there was a larger 'conspiracy' playing out to compel the CJI to resign.

He claimed that when he refused to take up the case on finding several loopholes in her story, the person offered him Rs 50 lakh, which was raised to Rs 1.50 crore.

Bains further claimed that on inquiry, he found that "certain fixers", who claim to be engaged in illegally managing judgments in exchange for cash, were behind the plot as the Chief Justice had taken decisive action to crack down on such fixers.

His affidavit stated, "The said fixer Romesh Sharma was running a 'cash for judgment' racket in cahoots with businessmen and politicians and had exercised considerable influence for years, which ultimately was brought to an end by the present CJI, as he took decisive action against them after becoming CJI."

"There was a conspiracy against the Chief Justice of India to force him to resign and thereby threaten every judge with dire consequences for being free and fearless in dispensing justice while pronouncing judgments against the rich and powerful in the country," his affidavit further claimed.

On Saturday, a Special bench of the Apex Court met for a sitting to discuss online media reports of sexual harassment allegations against CJI Ranjan Gogoi.

"The independence of the judiciary is under very serious threat and there is a larger conspiracy to destabilise the judiciary," the Bench had said.

A Bench consisting of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna did not pass any judicial order and left it to the wisdom of the media to decide on the publication of reports in order to protect the independence of the judiciary.