Sexual harassment allegations against CJI; Gogoi says 'bigger force' wants to deactivate CJI office

Allegations of sexual harassment have cropped up against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi prompting him to convene an urgent extraordinary hearing on Saturday and assert that the charges by a former apex court staffer were "unbelievable" and part of a conspiracy by some "bigger force" to "deactivate" the CJI's office.

As the allegations by the former woman staffer who had worked at Gogoi's home office in Delhi and dating back to October stunned the judiciary, Gogoi said he would not stoop too low even to deny them.

At the hurriedly called hearing in Court No 1 presided by him after the allegations were carried by some news portals based on the affidavit by the woman, the apex court said it is leaving it to the "wisdom of media" to show restraint and act responsibly so that independence of judiciary is not affected. The court, however, decided not to issue any gag order.

A three-judge special bench headed by Gogoi was constituted after a sworn affidavit by the woman, copies of ...