After summoning the chiefs of CBI, IB and Delhi Police earlier in the day in a case alleging that the sexual molestation charge filed against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi is part of a conspiracy, the three-judge bench of the SC continued hearing the case after lunch. Advocate Utsav Bains has filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court claiming that he has proof that allegations are part of a conspiracy by corporate houses and ‘fixers’ to get CJI Gogoi to resign.
Advocate Indira Jaising made submissions in the court, saying that an independent inquiry into the allegations made by the former female employee should be conducted. To this, the court said that this bench is constituted only for the affidavit filed by Utsav Bains, not for the allegations against the CJI. Justice Arun Mishra said that as a lawyer has alleged that there are fixers, the court needs to find out who are these fixers.
Indira Jaising also said that Bains came into the Supreme Court campus in a car without a court entry sticker. She asked how Bains came in a Jaguar car without a sticker.
Talking about the affidavit, Justice Mishra said that Bains has alleged that disgruntled employees of the Supreme Court have come together to frame the CJI. According to the affidavit, two court masters, who were sacked after they had manipulated a court order to favour Anil Ambani, and the former female employee conspired to concoct these charges.
Justice Mishra adds that the affidavit by Bains indicates that the two court masters, sacked after they manipulated an order in favour of Anil Ambani, & the woman court staff have conspired to concoct these charges. “This is a serious matter that needs to be looked into,” he says
— Utkarsh Anand (@utkarsh_aanand) April 24, 2019
In January this year, the Supreme Court had ordered the personal appearance of Anil Ambani in the contempt plea filed by Ericsson against Reliance Communications and Anil Ambani. But when the order was uploaded on the court website, it said that personal appearance was not needed. After Ericson lawyers had pointed it out, the court had found after a probe that the order was changed deliberately, and two court masters responsible for this, Manav Sharma and Tapan Kumar Chakaraborty were sacked by the top court.
Attorney General KK Venugopal countered the Bains, saying he is being selective in his affidavit. To this Bains said that the AG is making personal allegations against him. but the court warned him not to say anything against the AG. When Justice Nariman said that Bains will be thrown out of the court if he doubts Venugopal, Bains offered to walk out himself. But Justice Arun Mishra asked him to stay, saying nobody is attacking him personally.
Supreme Court gives time to Utsav Bains to file another affidavit.
Matter to be listed at 10.30 am tomorrow.
Exercise of judicial powers by this Bench will not affect any pending inquiry, Supreme Court makes it clear.
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) April 24, 2019
The court clarified that hearing this case will not have any effect on the in-house inquiry into the sexual harassment charges against the CJI. The court listed the matter for tomorrow morning, asking Utsav Bains to submit another affidavit corroborating his allegations that three sacked employees of Supreme Court made a conspiracy together to frame the CJI in sexual harassment charges with the help of powerful lobbyists.
