A day after BJP government nominated former Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi to the Rajya Sabha, retired Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju has dubbed Gogoi as “sexual pervert”.
“I have been a lawyer for 20 years and a judge for another 20. I have known many good judges and many bad judges. But I have never known any judge in the Indian judiciary as shameless and disgraceful as this sexual pervert Ranjan Gogoi. There was hardly any vice which was not in this man,” Katju tweeted on Tuesday.
I have been a lawyer for 20 yrs and a judge for another 20. I hv known many good judges & many bad judges. But I have never known any judge in the Indian judiciary as shameless & disgraceful as this sexual pervert Ranjan Gogoi. There was hardly any vice which was not in this man
— Markandey Katju (@mkatju) March 17, 2020
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday nominated Ranjan Gogoi, who served as the 46th CJI from October 3, 2018, to November 17, 2019, to the Rajya Sabha.
Earlier in January also Katju had slammed the former CJI and called him a “rascal and a rogue”, in response to the SC’s decision to reinstate a woman employee who was dismissed after accusing Gogoi of sexual misconduct.
Gogoi had called the charges of sexual harassment a conspiracy to “deactivate the office of the CJI”, denying all of them outright and saying that they came at a time when the court was due to hear “very very important cases”.
Gogoi was cleared of the charges raised in the letter in May 2019 by an ‘in-house’ committee of Supreme Court judges comprising current Chief Justice of India S.A. Bobde and Justices N.V. Ramana and Indira Banerjee.
Not only Katju, but several former judges, including Kurian Joseph and Madan B Lokur, slammed the nomination of Gogoi to the upper house.
Joseph, along with Gogoi and two other senior judges J Chelameswar, Madan B Lokur (all now retired), addressed an unprecedented press conference on January 12, 2018 questioning the functioning of the apex court under the then CJI Dipak Mishra.
Justice (retired) Joseph said that Gogoi has “compromised the noble principles” of independence and impartiality of judiciary.
Reacting sharply to Gogoi’s nomination, Justice (retired) Madan B Lokur alleged that it will redefine the independence, impartiality and integrity of the judiciary.
He also questioned, “Has the last bastion fallen?”