The Supreme Court on Thursday said the existence of a “conspiracy” against former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi cannot be “completely ruled out”.
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It was referring to a report filed by retired Supreme Court judge, Justice A.K. Patnaik, who was tasked to probe allegations of a “larger conspiracy” against the Supreme Court judiciary, including then Chief Justice Gogoi.
Justice Gogoi is presently a Member of Parliament.
The court said Justice Patnaik did not rule out a conspiracy though he was handicapped in his inquiry due to limited investigative powers and access to records, especially electronic documents of Whatsapp, Telegram, etc.
A Bench led by Justice S.K. Kaul decided to close the suo motu case titled ‘In re: Matter of great public importance touching upon the independence of judiciary’ registered in 2019. It said it would be difficult to retrieve the electronic evidence to establish conspiracy now.
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“Two years having passed and the possibility of recovery of electronic records at this distance of time is remote, especially since the scope of the enquiry and the power of the Judge (J. Patnaik) is limited, no useful purpose will be served by continuing these proceedings... The proceedings are accordingly closed and the suo motu petition is disposed of. The report which has been opened be placed back in a sealed cover,” the Bench noted in a four-page order.
The Bench, in its order, also referred to the final paragraph in Justice Patnaik’s report, which records a letter to him from the Intelligence Bureau Director on July 5, 2019.
The letter, the court noted, indicated there was a “strong reason” to believe that Justice Gogoi may have been a target of a conspiracy hatched by persons “unhappy” with his “serious tough” judicial orders passed in cases like the Assam NRC and his administrative decisions to streamline the Supreme Court Registry.
In house probe
The sexual harassment allegation against Justice Gogoi was set aside by an in house inquiry committee led by Justice Sharad A. Bobde, who was judge number two in the court at the time.
The former Supreme Court staffer who levelled the allegation had pulled out of the committee hearings.
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Certain media portals had published reports on the allegation of sexual harassment made by the former court staffer against then Chief Justice Gogoi in April 2019.
The court had registered the suo motu case on a complaint by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta. The sexual harassment allegation was linked to a larger conspiracy against the judiciary.
Advocate Bains’ petition
The case gained force with the filing of a petition by advocate Utsav Singh Bains, who said he had evidence to show that a plot was hatched by a powerful lobby of fixers, disgruntled court employees and corporate figures to target the highest judiciary, including Justice Gogoi.
A Bench led by Justice Arun Mishra (now retired) had assigned Justice Patnaik the task of conducting a probe into the allegation. Justice Patnaik’s inquiry focussed on material and affidavits provided by Mr. Bains.
While ordering the probe into the “larger conspiracy”, Justice Mishra had lashed out “this country must know the truth. The Supreme Court cannot be run by money power or political power”.
Mr. Bains reacted, “It is a vindication of my stand that there was a conspiracy against CJI Gogoi. I welcome the honourable Supreme Court’s observation vindicating my stand that there was a conspiracy against former CJI Gogoi.”
