Breaking: Justice Indu Malhotra To Replace Justice Ramana In Panel Probing Sexual Harassment Allegations Against CJI

Justice Indu Malhotra is the new member of the panel inquiring in to the sexual harassment allegations against Chief Justice of India. 

Justice NV Ramana has earlier recused from the panel constituted for an in-house inquiry into the allegations of sexual harassment levelled against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

On Wednesday, the former staff who levelled allegations against CJI, had objected to the inclusion of Justice Ramana in the in-house panel and had claimed that he was a frequent visitor of the residence of the CJI and is a "close friend of the CJI and is like a family member to him". She had also pointed out that on April 20, the day her affidavit was sent to the Supreme Court judges, Justice Ramana, speaking in Hyderabad, had dismissed her allegations.

Justice Bobde is the chairman of the panel and Justice Indira Banerjee is the other member. 

A former Junior Court Assistant in Supreme Court has, in a letter to Judges of the SC Judges alleged that she faced sexual harassment from Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. In a 28 page write up, styled as 'affidavit', the former employee complains that she and her family have been victimized for resisting and refusing the unwanted sexual advances of the CJI.

In her affidavit, she narrates her job environment from the day she joined the Court as Junior Court Assistant. She says that, from 11th August 2018 onward, she was posted at the Residence Office of Justice Ranjan Gogoi. Later, she says that she was transferred thrice in a matter of weeks – first on October 22, 2018, to the Centre for Research and Planning (CRP), then to the Admin Material Section, and finally to the Library on November 22, 2018. On November 19, however, she has issued a memorandum that a disciplinary enquiry was being initiated against her. Finally, she was dismissed in December 2018. Her husband who has been a Head Constable with the Delhi Police since June 2013 was suddenly transferred from the Crime Branch division, she added.

She also claims that she was arrested on an accusation that she had taken Rs 50,000 from a person in 2017, promising to secure a job for him in the Supreme Court, but had failed to keep her word.