MP Jaya Bachchan, 3 others walk out as ex-CJI Ranjan Gogoi defends Delhi Ordinance Bill as ‘perfectly valid’

Former Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi's maiden speech in Rajya Sabha saw four female MPs walk out, when he on Monday for the first time participated in the discussion in Rajya Sabha where he supported the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023.

Home Minister Amit Shah introduced the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, 2023 for consideration in the Rajya Sabha. The bill was passed by the Lok Sabha last week.

During Gogoi's speech, Jaya Bachchan from Samajwadi Party, Priyanka Chaturvedi from Shiv Sena (UBT), Vandana Chavan from Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Sushmita Dev from Trinamool Congress (TMC) walked out of the Rajya Sabha. 

“What is pending before the Supreme Court is the validity of the ordinance, and the two questions referred to the Constitution bench, and that has nothing to do with what is being debated in the House,” Gogoi said in the Rajya Sabha.

“The law doesn't appear to be arbitrary. In my respectful submission, the bill is perfectly valid,” Gogoi added.

The former chief justice is faces sexual harassment allegations during his stint as the top judge of India. 

In 2019, Ranjan Gogoi faced charges of sexual misconduct from a former staffer in his office that brought back the spotlight on the #MeToo movement. Gogoi had denied all allegations and said that the accusations were an attempt to “deactivate the office of the Chief Justice of India because sensitive matters” were to be heard by the court.

“There is a bigger force behind this. They want to deactivate the office of the Chief Justice of India because I am hearing sensitive matters next week. Independence of judiciary is under very serious threat, it is pathetic,” a report by Hindustan Times quoted Gogoi during the hearing in April 2019.

A Supreme Court appointed committee had cleared ranjan Gogoi of the sexual harassment charges saying that there was ‘no substance’ in the accusations levelled against him. 

Gogoi, however, faced criticism for constituting an emergency bench to hear the allegations against himself and later constituting an alternative bench that attacked the character of the complainant.

Ranjan Gogoi had served as the 46th Chief Justice of India from 2018 to 2019. Gogoi was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by President Ram Nath Kovind.