CJI Gogoi appears before panel probing sexual harassment charges against him

New Delhi, May 02: Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi appeared before the internal panel of the Supreme Court that is probing harassment charges levelled against him.

No details of the proceedings were made known as the proceedings are being held in-camera. The panel comprising three judges of the Supreme Court decided to go ahead with the probe despite the complainant withdrawing from the inquiry.

The CJI was issued a letter on Tuesday asking him to appear before the probe panel. This is incidentally for the first time that a CJI has appeared before any panel that is dealing with sexual harassment charges.

On Tuesday, the complainant walked out of the inquiry proceedings stating that she had serious concerns and reservations. In a statement issued to the media, she said, "I was compelled to walk out of the committee proceedings today because the committee seemed not to appreciate the fact that this was not an ordinary complaint but was a complaint of sexual harassment against a sitting CJI and therefore it was required to adopt procedure that would ensure fairness and equality in the highly unequal circumstances that I am placed. I had hoped that the approach of the committee towards me would be sensitive and not one that would cause me further fear, anxiety and trauma."