New Delhi: A voluntary organisation, the ‘Anti Corruption Council of India’ has filed a plea in the Delhi High Court asking it to restrain the media from publishing the allegations of sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi by a former Supreme Court employee.
The petition, which is likely to come up for hearing, April 29, sought immediate restriction on the media from further telecasting or publishing the allegations till the conclusion of the three-judge panel’s enquiry.
The plea said publication of allegations against the CJI directly hits the Indian judicial system. Besides electronic and print media, the plea sought directions for social media platforms as well.
The petition has arrayed as parties the Ministries of Law and Justice and Information and Broadcasting, the Delhi government, the Press Council of India and the Delhi Police Commissioner.
Directions have been sought for WhatsApp, Google, YouTube and LinkedIn Corporation and news website Scroll.in.
The allegations levelled by the former Supreme Court staff are being enquired into by a three-judge panel of the apex court which held its first proceeding, Friday. The panel is headed by Justice SA Bobde while the two others are, Justices Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee. It should be stated here that Justice NV Ramana was initially included in the panel. However, he recused himself after the complainant talked about his ‘close proximity’ to the CJI.
The plea alleged it suspects involvement of ‘anti-national elements’ in this act and if publication of these allegations is not restricted, ‘people will lose faith in the Indian judicial system’, and the ‘vast damage’ caused to the nation and its people would be ‘irreparable’.