New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Sunday termed as “wholly incorrect” a report in the Indian Express which had said that Justices D Y Chandrachud and RF Nariman had met Justice Bobde, who heads the in-house committee probing the complaint of sexual harassment against the CJI, and asked him to not proceed with the inquiry ex parte, as it could damage the court’s reputation. On Sunday morning, the Supreme Court put out a press statement in the name of its secretary general which took note of the Indian Express story.
‘‘It is most unfortunate that a leading newspaper has chosen to state that Justice R.F. Nariman and Justice D.Y. Chandrachud together met Justice S.A. Bobde on Friday evening — that is, on 3rd May 2019. This is wholly incorrect. The in-house committee which is deliberating on the issue concerning [the] Hon’ble Chief Justice of India deliberates on its own without any input from any other Hon’ble judge of this Court.”
But even as the SC statement denied the meeting, it did not confirm or reject whether Justice Chandrachud had on May 2 written to the three judges in the probe panel that the “credibility of the Supreme Court would be further damaged, if they decided to continue with the probe in the absence of the complainant”, who has withdrawn from the inquiry. According to the Indian Express report, Justice Chandrachud suggested to the panel that it either accede to the complainant’s request to provide her with a lawyer or appoint an amicus curiae for the probe.
The inquiry committee had decided to continue the hearings in the absence of the complainant after she declared that she was withdrawing from the probe as she felt she would not get justice. Justice Chandrachud is tenth in the list of seniority and in line to be the Chief Justice from 2022 to 2024.
