New Delhi | The Supreme Court today appointed Justice Retired AK Patnaik to head the probe Utsav Bains’ allegations of conspiracy to frame CJI Ranjan Gogoi in the sexual harassment case. The top court also CBI Director and the IB Chief to co-operate with Justice AK Patnaik.
During the hearing, the Court said that Utsav Bains cannot claim the privilege under Section 126, he is bound to disclose all documents.
The Court earlier today also expressed the anguish over the “systematic attack” on the judiciary and said time has come to tell the rich and powerful of this country that they are “playing with fire”.
The bench also made it clear that it would see whether the claims of advocate Utsav Singh Bains, who has alleged a larger conspiracy to frame the CJI on allegations of sexual harassment and attempts of fixing benches in the top court, are true or not.
The stinging observations by the bench came after Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that instead of an inquiry, an SIT probe should be ordered into allegations levelled by Bains.
At the outset, Bains filed an additional affidavit in a sealed cover in the court in support of his claims.
The bench then asked Attorney General K K Venugopal about the issue of privilege claimed by Bains over certain communications being protected under provisions of the advocate’s act.
Bains had filed an affidavit following the unprecedented hearing on Saturday during which Justice Gogoi had said some “bigger force” was behind the sexual harassment allegations as they wanted to “deactivate” the CJI’s office.
The hearing on April 20 in the case, titled as a matter of “great public importance touching upon the independence of judiciary”, was held after stories were published on some news portals about sexual harassment allegations levelled by a former employee of the apex court against the CJI.
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