CJI clean chit: Indira Jaising alleges victimisation; court staff back Gogoi

NEW DELHI: Controversy over the clean chit given by an in-house SC panel to CJI Ranjan Gogoi in the alleged sexual harassment charges continued on Wednesday with senior advocate Indira Jaising alleging victimisation for speaking up for the lady complainant.

Jaising and her husband Anand Grover took to Twitter to protest their alleged victimisation even as court staff came out in large numbers in support of the CJI, dubbing the harassment charges against him as an attack on the institution.

There were also protests led by women in Delhi and other cities against denial of due process to the complainant. Some of those protestors, including activists Annie Raja and Anjali Bhardwaj, were detained by Delhi Police only to be released hours later. The most curious case though was Jaising’s complaint of alleged victimisation on the judicial side.


A bench led by the CJI had issued notices to Jaising and Grover on a petition filed by NGO Lawyers Voice demanding their criminal prosecution over alleged misuse of foreign funding to her NGO, Lawyers Collective. A press release issued by Lawyers Collective argued that there was no misuse of foreign funding. The permission to get such funds has since been wrongly revoked by the government, it said.

The NGO said the petition was listed in a short time and notices were issued to the duo by a bench led by Gogoi. He ought to have recused himself from hearing the case, it said.

The bench clarified that the petition would not come in the way of the government proceeding against them.

“It is obvious to us that this is victimisation on account of Jaising taking up the issue of procedure adopted in relation to allegations of harassment against the CJI by a former employee…,” the release said.