The Supreme Court of India has said that a report published by the Indian Express today is fake. On a report about the probe into sexual harassment charges levelled against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Indian Express had said that Supreme Court judges Justice D Y Chandrachud and Rohintan Nariman had met the inquiry panel comprising Justices S A Bobde, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee on Friday evening. This in-house panel of Supreme Court is probing the allegations against CJI Gogoi.
The report had said that Justice Chandrachud had asked the panel to not proceed with the inquiry “ex parte”. Indian Express reported that the two judges discussed their concerns about the ongoing inquiry with the panel.
Reacting to the news report, the secretary general of Supreme Court of India has issued a clarification that no such meeting took place, and the entire report by Indian Express is false. The clarification said, “It is most unfortunate that a leading newspaper has chosen to state that Justice RF Nariman and Justice DY Chandrachud together met Justice SA Bobde on Friday evening i.e on 3rd May 2019. This is wholly incorrect. The in-House committee which is deliberating on the issue concerning Hon’ble Chief Justice of India deliberates on its own without any input from any other Hon’ble judge of this Court.”
A former employee of the Supreme Court had levelled charges of sexual molestation against CJI Gogoi, which is being probed by the panel. A few days later, advocate Utsav Basin had alleged that the charges are part of a larger conspiracy involving disgruntled former employees, lawyers, judges and corporates to fix the Supreme Court, and another bench is hearing that allegation.