New Delhi: The Patiala House Courts Wednesday will hear a plea to cancel the bail granted to a former Supreme Court employee who has accused Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment.
The case will be heard by Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana.
CJI Gogoi has refuted the allegations, making a reference to the complainant’s “criminal track record”, because there are two cases registered against her.
However, advocate Vijay Kaushal, the counsel for the woman, has said this is a way to intimidate and harass her through the Delhi Police, which itself is under pressure.
Naveen Kumar’s allegations
In the first case, filed by one Naveen Kumar of Jhajjar, Haryana, last month, the woman, who served as a junior court assistant at the Supreme Court, has been accused of cheating under sections 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The FIR against her was filed on 3 March and she was arrested on 9 March from Rajasthan. She was sent to judicial custody on 11 March, and released on bail the next day.
According to Kumar’s allegations, the woman had demanded Rs 10 lakh to get him a Class IV job (process server) at the Supreme Court. For this, she allegedly accepted an amount of Rs 50,000.
Kumar claimed that the accused failed to execute the deal and he didn’t hear from her for another three months. He said he then met her at the Supreme Court to enquire about his employment status, and alleged that he was told not to meet her. He even claimed she threatened to implicate him in a false case.
The Crime Branch of the Delhi Police took over the investigation when Kumar wrote to its DCP on 9 April that he was being threatened by the woman and her allies. After this, the investigation officer moved court Monday for the cancellation of the bail granted to the accused. However, since she was not present before the court, the hearing was deferred to 24 April.
The Station House Officer of Tilak Marg Police Station, Devender Yadav, who registered the FIR, refused to comment on the issue.
The other case
The second case which the CJI has referred to in the complainant’s “criminal past”, is about a fight between the woman and her family and their neighbour, who was a head constable with the Delhi Police. A cross-FIR was filed on 25 October 2011, under sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the IPC against her.
Her lawyer Kaushal said it was one of those cases where the parties got into an argument and slapped each other. However, the matter was mutually settled on 25 February 2016, and hence, barring the bail cancellation, no other criminal case is pending against the woman, he claimed.
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The woman’s allegations
The woman, who has a seven-year-old daughter, had submitted an affidavit in the Supreme Court alleging that she was sexually assaulted by the CJI, and her services were terminated arbitrarily.
She further alleged that she had been facing harassment since the time her services had been terminated. The Supreme Court held a special hearing for this matter Saturday.
According to documents accessed by ThePrint, the woman had tendered an unconditional apology and sought forgiveness after she was suspended. She said that had undergone severe mental strain, due to which her family was in disarray, and she was not able to look after her child.
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