SC notice to advocate alleging conspiracy against CJI

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to advocate Utsav Bains, who has alleged that there is a conspiracy to frame Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi in a false sexual harassment case.

A bench of Justice Arun Mishra, Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice Deepak Gupta, while directing the presence of Bains on Wednesday in the court, asked him to produce evidence in support of paras 17 and 20 of his affidavit filed in the apex court on Monday.

Noting that the advocate has expressed "apprehension of threat to his safety", the court directed Delhi Police Commissioner to "provide adequate police protection and also to ensure his presence in Court tomorrow (Wednesday)".

The order passed on Tuesday said: "Mr. Utsav Singh Bains, Advocate, is not present today. Issue notice for personal presence of Mr. Utsav Singh Bains, Advocate. We also direct him to produce in this Court the material in support of the averments made in Paragraph Nos. 17 and 20 of the affidavit."

The court had taken suo motu cognizance of the "matter of great public importance touching on the independence of the judiciary" and the affidavit filed by Bains alleging conspiracy.

The matter would be taken up for hearing at 10.30 a.m. on Wednesday.

Bains, in his affidavit, has said that he came to know about a conspiracy to frame Chief Justice Gogoi during the course of his enquiry after he was approached by a person asking him to appear for the alleged victim, and found missing links in the story.

He claimed that he was informed by "reliable sources" that "certain fixers", who claim to be engaged in illegally managing judgments in exchange for cash are behind this plot as the CJI has taken decisive action to crack down on them.

Bains, in his affidavit, said that in the course of his initial inquiry, every 'source' he met had 'only the knowledge of the conspiracy against Hon'ble CJI but not the names of the persons involved in hatching and executing the said conspiracy."

In his long affidavit, he alleged that a corporate entity in league with certain fixers had allegedly conspired to frame the CJI in a false case of sexual harassment for creating a situation to force him to resign.

Paragraph 19 of the affidavit reads: "On 19th April, 2019, a very reliable person, strictly on the condition of anonymity and in good faith, informed the Deponent about a Corporate figure who tried to approach a Hon'ble Supreme Court Judge to get a favourable order in a high profile case listed before this Hon'ble Court UT was unsuccessful and then the said Corporate figure attempted to get the case transferred from the court of that Hon'ble Supreme Court Judge but did not succeed and thus ganged up with an alleged fixer by the name of Romesh Sharma and his aides to frame the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India in a false case of sexual harassment to pressurise him to resign.

Paragraph 20 reads: "It is pertinent to mention here that the Deponent is privy to certain events and will submit in a sealed cover the events and the list of the involved person to this court should it so direct him."