Woman Levels Sextortion Charges on Chief Justice of India
A former employee of the Supreme Court of India has leveled serious allegations of sextortion against Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi.
Sextortion, as defined by the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), is the abuse of power to obtain a sexual benefit or advantage. As such, it is a form of corruption in which sex, rather than money, is the currency of the bribe.
In an affidavit that she sent to 22 judges of the court on April 19, 2019, the woman claims that she is a victim of sexual harassment committed by Gogoi who made inappropriate advances toward her during October last year.
[ Also Read: Exposing and Preventing Sextortion in the Judiciary ]
As usually happens in such high-profile cases of sextortion, the secretary general of the Supreme Court, on behalf of Gogoi, has dismissed the allegations, saying these are “completely and absolutely false and scurrilous and are totally denied.”
According to reports, the alleged incident of harassment happened on October 11, 2018. After her complaint, the woman claims she was dismissed from service and her entire family is being harassed.
[ Attorney General Misled the Court to Save Modi in Rafale Case ]
Describing the incident of October 11, the woman said the CJI made sexual remarks about her physique and took her hands into his and told her that her hands smell nice, pinched her cheeks, and put his arms around her waist from the front, and said, “I want this from you.”
In order to divert attention of the people from the sexual harassment allegations against Gogoi, the Supreme Court abruptly constituted a special bench today (April 20) to discuss an irrelevant topic ‘independence of the judiciary’.
It is being conjectured that since Supreme Court under CJI Gogoi recently decided to hear the review petitions in the Rafale corruption case in which PM Narendra Modi is a prime accused, Gogoi is being targeted. Last week, the Modi government had questioned the court order in Rafale case.
In an unusual hearing to discuss his own case on April 20, Gogoi argued baselessly that the judiciary is being made a scapegoat. However, he could not address the specific allegations against him.
