Suo motu case initiated by Supreme Court after sexual harassment allegations surfaced against Ranjan Gogoi J. listed today after 1 year, 9 months

The suo-motu case registered by Supreme Court in 2019 in the wake of sexual harassment allegations that surfaced against then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi is listed for hearing today after 1 year and 9 months. .The matter titled "In Re : Matter Of Great Public Importance Touching Upon The Independence Of Judiciary" had created quite a stir after Justice Gogoi himself had sat on the Bench to hear the case. .The case was last heard on April 25, 2019 by a Bench of Justices Arun Mishra, Rohinton Fali Nariman and Deepak Gupta when the Court had decided to examine whether there was a larger conspiracy involved to frame the CJI and tarnish judiciary. This development came after advocate Utsav Bains submitted certain affidavits to the court in sealed cover purportedly containing sensitive information about such conspiracy. .The Court had taken the affidavits on record and appointed retired Supreme Court judge, Justice AK Patnaik to hold an inquiry into the allegations contained in the affidavit..While Justice Patnaik had submitted his report to the Court in October 2019, the matter was never listed for hearing till today..The case will be heard today by a Bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul, AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian. .The allegations against Justice Gogoi surfaced in April 2019 when four news outlets published details of complaint filed by a Supreme Court staffer against Gogoi J. .She alleged that she was sexually harassed by CJI Gogoi while working as a Junior Court Assistant in October 2018. In a representation sent out to Supreme Court judges, she had detailed these allegations while seeking the initiation of an inquiry against CJI Gogoi..The very same day that the allegations were published, the Court registered the suo motu case which was listed the same day in open court. This was on a non-working day.Justice Gogoi himself sat on the Bench and took strong exception to the news reports while denying the allegations. .Later, the matter was sent to another 3-judge Bench headed by Justice Arun Mishra to examine the larger issue of alleged conspiracy raised by Utsav Bains. .Meanwhile, a court-appointed committee constituted to look into the allegations gave a clean chit to Justice Gogoi.