A court in Delhi on Friday dismissed the police’s application to cancel the bail of a former Supreme Court staffer who had accused Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi of sexually harassing her, Bar and Bench reported.
The woman received the bail in connection with a case that was filed on the basis of a complaint by 31-year-old Naveen Kumar, who accused her of cheating him of Rs 50,000 he had allegedly paid for a job at the top court.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Manish Khurana dismissed the police application after the woman’s counsel, VK Ohri, informed him that despite several attempts, the man could not be served notice in the case.
“No fruitful purpose will be served by keeping the bail cancellation application pending,” Khurana said. “The application is dismissed and disposed of”.
Khurana had first issued a notice to Kumar on April 23, then May 23 and subsequently on July 19. Investigating officer Mukesh Antil had told the court earlier that the notices went unserved because he was not found at his address. The court issued another notice to him and sought his presence on September 6. At Friday’s hearing, nobody appeared even for the Delhi Police.
Naveen Kumar has been missing from his home in Haryana since April. On March 3, the Tilak Marg police station had registered a first information report against the woman based on his complaint. He alleged that a man identified as Mansa Ram had taken him to meet the junior court assistant in June 2017. She allegedly promised to get him a job at the court, quoting a price of Rs 10 lakh. In the complaint, Kumar claimed he gave her an advance of Rs 50,000. However, the woman rejected the charges against her as “false and frivolous”, and said she was being victimised for complaining against Gogoi.
On April 19, the woman sent affidavits to 22 Supreme Court judges calling for an inquiry into the actions of Gogoi, who she claimed had not only harassed her but was also responsible for subsequent victimisation, which led to her and other members of her family losing their government jobs. Criminal cases were also reportedly filed against them. She was a junior court assistant at the time.
The case
The police arrested the woman on March 10 for the alleged offences of cheating, criminal intimidation and criminal conspiracy. She was sent to judicial custody by a court the next day and granted bail on March 12.
The police sought the cancellation of bail after Kumar alleged that she had threatened him. Kumar also noted that Mansa Ram had died in January.
In April, Kumar’s mother Meena said her son left for Chandigarh at 7 am on April 20. His phone has been switched off since then. She also claimed that she had told him “not to file the case” as it was “not wise to fight with powerful people”. “He is scared for his life. When he left, he told me that everything was going to be all right,” she said. According to his family, Kumar used to work as a security guard in Jhajjar.
Also read:Chief Justice of India sexually harassed me, says former SC staffer in affidavit to 22 judges
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