[dropcap]T[/dropcap]HE former Supreme Court woman employee, who levelled sexual harassment charges against the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, will file an appeal with the latter against her dismissal from service in the Supreme Court of India. The CJI also heads the administrative functions of the Supreme Court.
The former apex court staffer was charged with showing dissatisfaction with her seating arrangements, trying to exert undue influence to change her seating and being absent from duty on November 11, 2018.
On December 17, 2018 while waiting for the departmental enquiry into the charges to commence, she fainted and had to be rushed to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital by the court employees. The departmental proceedings continued without her presence and she was subsequently dismissed from service on December 21, 2018 on charges of “misconduct and insubordination”. It is this dismissal that the former staffer will appeal against directly to CJI Gogoi.
With regard to her sexual harassment charges against the Chief Justice, a three-member in-house panel headed by Justice S A Bobde ex parte found no substance in her allegations. The complainant had withdrawn from the proceedings after her repeated requests for a lawyer’s presence and video recordings of the panel hearings were turned down. The panel allowed CJI Gogoi to depose before it and forwarded him a copy of its findings. The complainant is yet to receive a copy of the same.
