Clean Chit to CJI Gogoi: BCI up in arms over criticism by Justice Chelameswar, Justice Madan Lokur

The Bar Council of India (BCI), through its Chairman Manan Kumar Mishra, has once again expressed its trust in the In-House inquiry that cleared Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment allegations. .The latest solidarity statement issued today starts off by reiterating that there is no need to resurrect the concocted allegations against CJI Gogoi..“The issue of the concocted story of so-called harassment to an unknown Lady complainant has been buried to the grounds: But unfortunately we find that few persons are still trying to make unwarranted and uncalled for comments for the reasons best known to them.” .This time, the BCI Chairman has expressed disappointment at the critical views aired by two former Supreme Court judges, Justices Jasti Chelameswar and Madan Lokur, following the clean chit given to CJI Gogoi..Both judges had expressed concern that due process had not been followed in dealing with the sexual harassment allegations against CJI Gogoi. In this regard, Justice Lokur had written an opinion piece in The Indian Express, whereas Justice Chelameswar had spoken to ThePrint. .Perturbed by the development, Mishra has commented on behalf of the BCI,.“We could understand the motive of some Lawyers behind such baseless criticisms of the Institution, the In-house Committee and of the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India but now the phase-wise, belated comments of Hon’ble Mr. Justice Madan Lokur and Hon’ble Mr. Justice Chelameswar, the two former Judges of Supreme Court, is beyond imagination…..….We are shocked and surprised to see the comments of the above-named two Hon’ble Judges after several weeks of the closer of this episode. What is their purpose, we fail to understand?”.The BCI statement goes on point fingers at the two judges for having orchestrated the starting point of deterioration (presumably of the judiciary) by leading the January 2018 Judges’ Press Conference. It states,.“Bar has no hesitation in saying that it were these two Judges who had taken lead role in January, 2018 in holdings a Press-Conference and that was the starting point of Deterioration: we should not forget that Hon’ble Mr. Justice Gogoi told the very next day that “there was no crisis in the Judiciary”; But neither Mr. Justice Lokur nor Mr. Justice Chelameswar ever realized their mistakes. [sic]”.What did Justice Gogoi speak at the 2018 Judges Press Conference? Watch here .Further, reference is also made to post-retirement lucrative assignments taken up by the judges. In no uncertain terms, the BCI goes on to suggest that it is better that the judges only show concern for their own business..“And after retirement, they are in Lucrative assignments, Mr. Justice Chelameswar is also doing so many arbitrations; so in the opinion of the Bar, better they should show concern only with their business, (instead of supporting the stand of one or two Lawyers of Supreme Court who were known to be very close to them while they were sitting Judges). [sic]”.Among other things, the statement also recommends that the In-House inquiry’s clean chit report must not be made public, in the interest of the citizens as well as that of the complainant..“In the considered opinion of the Bar and the responsible citizen of this country, if the report of the Committee is made public, it would cause serious harm to the lady-complainant: Moreover the disgruntled elements and people with vested interests will again start making baseless comments: there will be no end to this episode and this would lead to perpetual irreparable loss to our Highest office of Judiciary.”.On a parting note, the BCI has declared, once again, that it would protect the judicial institution at any cost against absurd complaints meant to malign it. Further, it is added that any comment or criticism of the In-House Committee’s procedure would itself be unfair, unjust and improper..“We have full faith on the system, India and Indian Bar fully trusts the findings and decisions of the In-house Inquiry Committee consisting of three Hon’ble sitting Judge of Supreme Court which includes two noted and renowned women Judges of our country. Any comment or criticism of the fair procedure adopted by this Committee would itself be unfair, unjust and improper.”.The Chairman signs off the BCI statement by reiterating,.“India has full trust on its Judges and the system.”.Read the full BCI Statement dated May 25, 2019:.Bar & Bench is available on WhatsApp. For real-time updates on stories, click here to subscribe to our WhatsApp.