The former woman staffer of the Supreme Court, who made allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, expressed reservations on Wednesday over the composition of the panel entrusted to conduct an in-house inquiry.
In her letter to the panel headed by Justice S A Bobde, the senior-most apex court judge, she objected to the presence of Justice N V Ramana in the inquiry panel on the ground that he is a close friend of the CJI and a regular visitor to his house.
An official source confirmed that the former staffer, who has been issued notice to appear before the panel on Friday, also questioned the presence of only one woman apex court judge — Indira Banerjee — in the panel, which is not in accordance with the Vishaka Guidelines.
She said that as per the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court in the Vishaka judgement, for holding inquiry into the allegations of sexual harassment at work place, the committee must have a majority of women.
The woman has also asked the panel to allow her to appear before it along with a lawyer and the proceedings of the committee be video recorded so there can be no dispute about what transpired in the inquiry. Justice Bobde had stated that the in-house procedure did not contemplate representation of the parties by an advocate. ‘‘It is not a formal judicial proceeding,” he had said.
