The Delhi Police detained several protestors around 11.30 am on Wednesday while they were demonstrating against the decision of a Supreme Court in-house committee to clear Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexual harassment charges. The protestors, who were released three hours later, said they would continue their demonstrations till Friday.
Several protestors had also been detained for a few hours on Tuesday at the Mandir Marg Police Station. The Women in Criminal Law Association on Wednesday condemned the police action.
A protestor said police personnel were ready with water canons and buses when they arrived at Rajiv Chowk metro station to protest in the morning. “We were protesting against the clean chit given to the CJI and the copy of the report being denied to the complainant,” Right to Information activist Amrita Johri told Scroll.in. “We were pushed and shoved into the buses.”
Johri claimed that the Delhi Police had misled the media by claiming that no one had been detained.
On Tuesday, the complainant had asked the court’s in-house committee to give her a copy of their report exonerating Gogoi. A day earlier, the committee had rejected her complaint and the court’s secretary general said the panel had found “no substance” her allegations. The court official also said that the inquiry committee’s report was not liable to be made public.
On April 19, the woman had sent her complaint to 22 judges and called for an inquiry into the actions of Gogoi, who she said not only harassed her but was also responsible for her subsequent victimisation. However, on April 30, she withdrew from the inquiry as she had not been allowed to have a lawyer present at depositions and was not informed about the procedure that would be followed.
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