CJI clean chit row: Section 144 imposed outside Supreme Court, protesters detained

The Delhi Police on Tuesday, May 7, imposed Section 144 outside the Supreme Court after an in-house panel of the apex court cleared Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sex harassment allegations on Monday. Many women lawyers and activists took part in the protest outside the top court. This development came a day after the three-judge top court panel headed by Justice S A Bobde found no substance in the sexual harassment allegations levelled by a former top court employee against Chief Justice Gogoi.

Felt "quite intimidated and nervous" - were the words by the former employee of the Supreme Court in the presence of the three Supreme Court judges.

In a statement to the reporters, she had expressed serious reservations over the functioning of the panel, saying it was "an in-house committee of sitting judges junior to the CJI and not an external committee as I had requested..." The woman said that during the panel's hearing on April 26, the judges told her that it was neither an in-house committee proceeding nor a proceeding under the Vishakha Guidelines and that it was an informal proceeding.

"I was asked to narrate my account, which I did to the best of my ability even though I felt quite intimidated and nervous in the presence of three Hon'ble Judges of the Supreme Court and without having a lawyer or support person with me," she said.

She said she was not even given the opportunity to go through her recorded statement.

The protesters came out openly in favour of the complainant, who on April 30, had accused CJI Gogoi of sexually harassing her, and had said that she would no longer appear before the in-house panel set up by the apex court to probe her charges as she felt that she was "not likely to get justice".

Watch the video here:

Protests erupt out the SC following the three-judge panel verdict. Check out a few visuals here:

Nobody is allowed to gather outside the Supreme Court for any kind of demonstration. The Delhi Police detained the protesters in the area to prevent further escalation.