The former woman Supreme Court staffer, who had leveled sexual harassment against Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, said on Monday that she was "highly disappointed and dejected" that the in-house committee has given a clean chit to the CJI and said she was on the verge of losing faith in the idea of justice.
She said she would consult a lawyer and decide on the next step. "Today, I am at the verge of losing faith in the idea of justice," the complainant said in a statement reacting to the news of clean chit given by the three-judge committee headed by Justice SA Bobde.
"I, the woman complainant, a former SC employee, am not just highly disappointed and dejected to learn that the in-house committee 'has found no substance' in my complaint, but feel that gross injustice has been done to me as a woman citizen of India," she said.
"I am now extremely scared and terrified because the in-house committee, despite having all material placed before them, has given me no justice or protection and said nothing about the absolutely malafide dismissals and suspensions, indignities and humiliations suffered by me and my family. I and my family members remain vulnerable to the ongoing reprisals and attack," she added.
The woman who came out with the allegation a fortnight ago said her complaint was in the form of an affidavit sent by her to the judges of the SC on April 19. "I am alarmed at the conclusion arrived at by the in-house Committee, as my accusation of sexual harassment at the workplace and the consequent relentless victimization and reprisals against me and my family, are substantiated by documents and are verifiable."
She said on April 26 she had joined proceedings of the in-house committee and from the very beginning expressed serious concerns and reservations "that the manner in which the proceedings were being conducted would not mitigate the stark asymmetry of power between me and the CJI."
"Today, my worst fears have come true, and all hope of justice and redress from the highest court of the land have been shattered. In fact, the committee has announced that I will not even be provided with a copy of the report, and so I have no way of comprehending the reasons and basis for the summary dismissal of my complaint of sexual harassment and victimization."
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The woman said she had already placed her earlier communications with the committee in the public domain through media on April 30 when she was compelled to walk out of the committee proceedings as it had refused to accept even her most basic request for a fair hearing.
"On 4th May 2019, at about 8 pm I received a hard copy of my statements recorded before the In House Committee on 26th, 29th and 30th April 2019. On 6th May 2019, at around 10.30 am, I submitted corrections of some inaccuracies in my recorded statements, to the concerned registrar at the Supreme Court.
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