Justice Gogoi refutes allegations, SC says "bigger force" wants to deactivate CJI's office

Describing the allegations of sexual harassment against him as "unbelievable", Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi convened an extraordinary hearing at the Supreme Court on Saturday said that a larger conspiracy was behind it and he would not stoop too low even to deny these allegations.

In the hurriedly called hearing after the allegations cropped up, the apex court left it to the "wisdom of media" to show restraint and act responsibly so that independence of judiciary is not affected.

The apex court, which held the hearing for around 30 minutes, said independence of judiciary was under "very serious threat" and "unscrupulous allegations" of sexual harassment have been levelled against the Chief Justice of India as some "bigger force" wanted to "deactivate" the office of the CJI.

The "unusual and extraordinary" hearing on a Saturday was held after stories were published on some news portals on the allegations made by an ex-employee of the apex court against the CJI.

The court, which said the judiciary "cannot be made a scapegoat", said the media should not publish the woman's complaint without verifying its truth.

The CJI said this issue has cropped up when a bench headed by him is scheduled to hear "many, many sensitive cases" next week and this was also the month of Lok Sabha elections in the country.

Besides the CJI, the bench also comprising Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna, hinted towards a "bigger force" behind the controversy which has the potential to shake the faith of public in the judicial system.

Though the CJI was heading the bench, he left it to Justice Mishra to take a call on passing a judicial order.

Dictating the order, Justice Mishra said, "Having considered the matter, we refrain from passing any judicial order at this moment, leaving it to the wisdom of the media to show restraint, act responsibly as is expected from them and accordingly decide what should or should not be published, as wild and scandalous allegations undermine and irreparably damage reputation and negate independence of judiciary."