Justices SA Bobde, NV Ramana, Indira Banerjee to inquire into sexual harassment allegations against CJI Ranjan Gogoi

A panel of Justices SA Bobde, NV Ramana and Indira Banerjee will inquire into the allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, PTI reports. .Justice Bobde, who is next in line to be the Chief Justice of India was tasked by the CJI to look into the allegations levelled by former Supreme Court staffer..Bobde told PTI that he has decided to form a panel which would include Justice NV Ramana and Justice Indira Banerjee besides him..The allegations against Gogoi were reported by online news portals on April 20..CJI Gogoi had immediately convened a Special Bench the very same day. The Special Bench addressed the allegations levelled by the former Supreme Court staffer. CJI Gogoi denied the allegations and further stated that the complainant has criminal antecedents..CJI Gogoi also said that he will continue to serve as the Chief Justice and continue to discharge his duties while adding that these allegations were part of a conspiracy. CJI Gogoi sat on the Bench with Justices Arun Mishra and Sanjiv Khanna. However, the Court’s order which was subsequently uploaded on the website of the Supreme Court did not reflect CJI Gogoi’s name..This had led to questions from various quarters about the propriety of such a hearing..SCBA and Supreme Court AoR association had objected to the hearing and called for a probe by Full Court.