‘Due Procedure Not Followed in CJI Harassment Case’: Chelameshwar

“I don’t see why the procedure for this case should be any different from the law of the land,” Chelameshwar said.

“No one is above the law, at least not in my opinion, and hence i don’t see why the procedure for this case should be any different from the law of the land,” Chelameshwar was quoted by The Print as saying.

(Photo: PTI)

Retired Supreme Court judge Justice Jasti Chelameshwar, on Wednesday, 22 May, told The Print that due process was not followed while handling the sexual harassment case against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi.

Chelameshwar’s statement comes after Justice Madan Lokur (retd) also expressed similar concerns in a piece he wrote in The Indian Express.

Justice Chelameshwar told The Print that he is perturbed by the systematic failure in the judiciary. “No one is above the law, at least not in my opinion, and hence I don’t see why the procedure for this case should be any different from the law of the land,” he was quoted by The Print as saying.

He further distanced himself from naming anyone since its not known if the allegations are true or false.

“But its about the system and the procdure that i’m concerned about.”

Jasti Chelameshwar, Retired Supreme Court Judge

Justice Lokur, in the Indian Express piece, said that the complainant should have been given a copy of the report. Chelameshwar also said that such concerns are valid and that it was in her ‘complete right’ to ask for a lawyer to be present if she felt uncomfortable during the proceedings, The Print reported.

Chelameshwar also compared the situation of the CJI being the presiding judge on his own case to the medical college admission scam last year, where the CBI had filed an FIR saying that the Supreme Court is being manipulated to obtain permissions in favor of a medical college run by Lucknow’s Prasad Education Trust, naming former Odisha HC judge IM Quddusi as an accused.

(With inputs from The Print and The Indian Express)