Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday said he should not have been part of the Bench which took suo motu cognisance of reports on sexual harassment allegations made against him by a court staffer.
“In hindsight, I should not have been a judge on the Bench... 45 years of my hard work in the Bar and the Bench was being spoiled. It might have been better if I was not part of the Bench. We all make mistakes. No harm in accepting it,” he told a private news channel at the launch of his autography J ustice for the Judge .
Justice Gogoi was later given clean chit by an in-house committee of three judges headed by Justice Sharad A. Bobde. The staffer had withdrawn from the proceedings midway.
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The former CJI defended the procedure of the in-house panel saying it had been there for the last 20 years.
Justice Gogoi strongly objected to the allegation that his Rajya Sabha nomination was a “quid pro quo” for the Ramjanmabhoomi title dispute judgment.
On the issue of interference of the executive in the functioning of the judiciary, he said there was “NIL” interference.
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Justice Gogoi said he did not meet the Prime Minister even once during his tenure as the CJI and those who took selfies with the PM have now become “activist” judges.