Tribune News Service

New Delhi, December 8

More than two-and-a-half years after he was exonerated by an in-house panel of sexual harassment charges levelled by a Supreme Court employee, former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Wednesday admitted that it was a mistake on his part to be on the Bench in the case.

Speaking at the launch of his autobiography “Justice for the Judge”, Justice Gogoi said it happened because 45 years of his hard work in the Bar and Bench was being spoiled. The book was launched by former CJI SA Bobde, who described Justice Gogoi as “a reluctant man of destiny”.

Talking about the Ayodhya case, he said, “I didn’t bring Ayodhya out of the cold storage. My predecessors left that for me. So, I had only two options to either fight or flight. And as Justice Bobde mentioned, I come from a family of warriors. So, of course...I fight.”

Asked why Kashmir-related cases were not taken up expeditiously, Justice Gogoi said, “I didn’t let Kashmir cases hibernate. I assigned it to the alternate Bench because I had the Ayodhya case to look at.” He said there was nil interference by the Executive in Judiciary.