Sextortion Accused Former Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi Nominated to Rajya Sabha
In all autocratic regimes that work under the garb of democratic systems, the rulers silently use courts to impose their own decisions on citizens and suppress all kinds of dissent.
By Rakesh Raman
Former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi was nominated for Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India’s parliament, on Monday by President Ram Nath Kovind.
With his bias toward the Narendra Modi government, Gogoi – who retired in November 2019 – was largely working as a government spokesperson.
During his tenure, he had completely tarnished the image of the Supreme Court which had been reduced to the level of a party office of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) headed by PM Modi.
As a judge, Gogoi was pronouncing judgments such as Ayodhya verdict and decision on Rafale corruption case to meet Modi’s expectations. In all autocratic regimes that work under the garb of democratic systems, the rulers silently use courts to impose their own decisions on citizens and suppress all kinds of dissent.
[ Also Read: Lawyers Condemn Justice Arun Mishra’s Praise for PM Modi ]
That’s what Modi has been doing by virtually holding Gogoi to ransom. Throughout his tenure, Gogoi was made to grapple with his own sextortion / sexual harassment case filed by a woman employee, who was removed from her job and later reinstated after Gogoi’s retirement.
| Sextortion, as defined by the International Association of Women Judges (IAWJ), is the abuse of power to obtain a sexual benefit or advantage. As such, it is a form of corruption in which sex, rather than money, is the currency of the bribe. |
Justice Markandey Katju – a former Judge of the Supreme Court of India and former Chairman of Press Council of India – said, “At last the woman employee who was sexually molested by CJI Gogoi and victimized along with her family has been reinstated. There was no vice which was not in Ranjan Gogoi. And yet this rascal and rogue rose to become CJI. It speaks volumes about our judiciary.”
At last the woman employee who was sexually molested by CJI Gogoi and victimized along with her family has been reinstated.
There was no vice which was not in Ranjan Gogoi. And yet this rascal and rogue rose to become CJI. It speaks volumes about our judiciary.
— Markandey Katju (@mkatju) January 22, 2020
The government decision to reward tainted Gogoi with the Rajya Sabha seat, once again shows that the Indian judiciary is not working independently.
By Rakesh Raman, who is a national award-winning journalist and social activist. He is the founder of a humanitarian organization RMN Foundation which is working in diverse areas to help the disadvantaged and distressed people in the society. He also creates and publishes a number of digital publications and research reports on different subjects.
