The woman employee of the Supreme Court who filed a complaint against the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi alleging sexual harassment has said that she felt compelled to speak out only when she and her family were targeted and punished after her act of “resisting and refusing the sexual advances of the CJI.”

In a 29-page affidavit filed on Thursday (April 18), she said: “It is only when the victimisation has reached unbearable proportions, when me and my family were taken into police custody and tortured, and now there is an imminent danger to my life that I am compelled to speak the whole truth, in order to save myself and my family.”

“I have filed complaints to the DCW and NHRC in this regard. Even until that point I avoided talking about the sexual harassment, as I was very very scared and I did not want to anger the CJI further and invite any more harm to me and my family. However, it now seems like the harassment, victimisation and torture will not stop unless I speak out about the origin and motive for the harassment. Further, I knew that since he was such a powerful man, nobody would believe my experience, and would only believe that the CJI could never do something like this. “

Shortly after some news portals came out with the news of the alleged incident, CJI Gogoi denied the allegations of sexual advances leveled against him  and linked them to the charge to “bigger forces” and the upcoming “sensitive cases” he is to hear.

“There are forces that are trying to destabilise the judiciary. There are bigger forces behind these allegations hurled at me,” he told a court session, convened hurriedly after two news portals, the website of a magazine and an online legal platform reported the allegations.

“I want to tell the citizens of this country that today, the judiciary is under a serious threat,” the Chief Justice said at one point, explaining why he had convened a special sitting.

Read the full affidavit here.

—India Legal Bureau