india

Updated: May 02, 2019 01:36 IST

A day after the former Supreme Court staffer who has accused Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment walked out of the internal inquiry into the matter, the CJI on Wednesday appeared before the three-member panel of judges, which decided to go ahead with the proceedings in her absence (or ex parte).

Details of what transpired when Gogoi appeared before the panel, proceedings of which are being conducted in-camera, are not known.

HT learns that CJI Gogoi was sent a letter on Tuesday, requesting him to appear before the committee.

This is the first time that a CJI has appeared before any panel dealing with sexual harassment charges.

The three-member committee of sitting judges comprises justices SA Bobde, Indira Banerjee and Indu Malhotra.

On Tuesday, the complainant walked out of the inquiry proceedings, saying that she had “serious concerns and reservations” about justice being given to her by the committee.

In a statement to the media on Tuesday, 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.”

According to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named, the committee has not been in touch with the complainant after she walked out of the inquiry and she is now waiting for the inquiry panel to respond to the allegations she has levelled against the CJI before taking the next step.

The former Supreme Court staffer said she was denied help of a lawyer during the hearings and also refused a copy of her statement, recorded by the committee on April 26 and 29.

The complainant also said the internal panel was neither an in-house committee nor was it being conducted in line with the Vishaka guidelines, spelled out by the Supreme Court in 1997 to deal with cases of sexual harassment. The proceedings were informal, she said.

Justices Bobde, Banerjee and Malhotra did not attend court on Wednesday, and cases listed in their court rooms were not taken up for hearing.

According to a notice put out by the Supreme Court registry, court number 2, which is presided over by justice Bobde and has justices Navin Sinha and Indira Banerjee as part of the bench, will also not be sitting on Thursday.

As per the list issued by Supreme Court registry, justice Indu Malhotra too is not sitting in court.