Hours after reports emerged in certain sections of the media on allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, the Supreme Court called a 'special bench hearing' on the matter on Saturday morning.

Heading the bench, which also comprised Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna, CJI Ranjan Gogoi said the allegations are "unsubstantiated". He also called the allegations an "attack on the independence of the judiciary".

The case:

A woman who claims to be a former employee of the Supreme Court accused CJI Ranjan Gogoi of sexually harassing her. She sent an affidavit detailing the allegations to 22 judges of the Supreme Court.

In the affidavit, she claimed she was sexually harassed by CJI Gogoi and then victimised because she resisted his advances. She also claimed that she and her family have faced intimidation and harassment from officials of the Supreme Court.

Her allegations were published by four news websites.

The hearing:

During this morning's hearing, CJI Ranjan Gogoi said, "I don't think this can be a dismissed employee of the Supreme Court. This has to be a bigger issue. Considering the very very important cases that are due to be heard next week, they want to destabilise the office of the CJI."

CJI Gogoi said, "There are two offices in the country which are completely independent - the PMO and the office of the CJI."

On the allegations, levelled against him, he said: "I have a bank balance of Rs 6 lakh and a provident fund of Rs 40 lakh after 20 years of service. My peon has more money than me. Reputation is all that we have. If judges have to work under these conditions, no good person will come and want to become a judge."

"I would not stoop so low as to answer the allegations," CJI Gogoi said.

Questioning the motives of the news websites which published the woman's allegations, details of which were reportedly shared with Supreme Court judges, CJI Ranjan Gogoi said this was "pathetic".

"Independence of judiciary is under very very serious threat," he said, adding that he was given a notice of less than 12 hours by the media organisations that have published the allegations.

"I have taken this unusual and unprecedented step because things have gone too far. The judiciary cannot be targeted like this," CJI Ranjan Gogoi said.

Justice Arun Mishra also came out in support of the CJI and said, "People have faith in the system of the judiciary. If such unscrupulous, scandalous allegations are raised, how will courts function?"

Besides this, CJI Gogoi also questioned the motives of the woman who has levelled the sexual harassment charges.

"She's facing a criminal investigation. The case for her bail is to be heard today and this allegation has been raised."

Attorney General of India KK Venugopal and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta extended their support to the judges on the matter.

Attorney General Venugopal said, "She came across as a willing unscrupulous person who has been used as a pawn."

Tushar Mehta attacked the news organisations for publishing the detailed story. He said it is "defamatory and rubbish has been published".

The order:

For now, the bench has not passed any order against the woman or the media outlets that have published the allegations.

However, CJI Ranjan Gogoi said he wants the country to know that the "independence of judiciary is under very very serious threat".

The court said: "Having considered the matter, we refrain from passing any judicial order at this moment leaving it to the wisdom of the media to show restraint, act responsibly as is expected from them and accordingly decide what should or should not be published as wild and scandalous allegations undermine and irreparably damage reputation and negate independence of judiciary. We would therefore at this juncture leave it to the media to take off such material which is undesirable."

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