Sexual harassment allegations against me part of larger conspiracy: Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi

The Chief Justice of India on Saturday strongly denied the allegations of sexual harassment against him by a former Supreme Court employee. The Chief Justice said that the allegations against him were part of "a larger conspiracy" and were made to disrupt the crucial hearings next week. A special bench of the Supreme Court heard the case today after the former employee, who claimed to be a part of the CJI's core team, accused him of sexual harassment. The woman sent an affidavit to several sitting judges.

"Independence of judiciary is under very, very severe threat. There has to be bigger force behind this, they want to deactivate office of CJI. This is unbelievable. I don't think I should stoop low even to deny these allegations," PTI news agency quoted the CJI as saying during a special hearing.

The bench was constituted after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta who mentioned before the Supreme Court official concerned the allegations of sexual harassment that have cropped up against Gogoi.

"Hurt" by the allegations, the CJI said that he has just Rs 6 lakh and 80 thousand in his bank account and since people cann't catch him on money, they had to find something. 

"I have only Rs 6 lakh and 80 thousand in my bank account. And since no one can catch me on money, people have to find something else and they found this," Chief Justice Gogoi said.

The CJI said that for any judge, his reputation is supreme to him and that is being attacked by such "malafide" allegations. The Chief Justice said that despite the threat, he will fulfill his duties without any fear. He also recused himself from being part of a judicial order in the matter.

Another Supreme Court judge, Justice Mishra was authorised to pass the judicial order. Justice Mishra, however, did not pass any orders on the allegations and asked media to show restrain to protect independence of judiciary and repost the incident with responsibilty.