AASU comes out in support of CJI Gogoi, says allegations a "conspiracy"

An influential students organisation of the Northeast Monday came out in support of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, against whom sexual harassment allegations have been levelled, saying the charges were baseless and part of a conspiracy.

In a statement, chief advisor of the All Assam Students' Union (AASU) Samujjal Kumar Bhattacharya and the organisation's president Dipankar Nath said the allegations have surfaced at a time when the chief justice of India (CJI) was hearing several important cases, including the update of the National Register of Citizens (NRC).

"It was a baseless allegation. The people of Assam, the Northeast and the whole country are proud of the integrity of the chief justice. We have full faith in him," Bhattacharya said.

Nath claimed it was a conspiracy against the chief justice whose integrity is beyond doubt.

Allegations of sexual harassment had cropped up against the CJI on Saturday, prompting him to convene an urgent extraordinary hearing in which he asserted that the charges by a former apex court staffer were "unbelievable" and part of a conspiracy by some "bigger force" to "deactivate" the CJI's office.

As the allegations by the former woman staffer, who had worked at Justice Gogoi's home office in Delhi and dating back to October, stunned the judiciary, the CJI had said he would not stoop so low as to even deny them.

The chief justice hails from Assam.