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On the evening of 8 December 2021,  the autobiography of former Chief Justice of India (CJI) and current member of the Rajya Sabha Ranjan Gogoi was released - the event was as interesting as the title of Justice Gogoi's memoir, "Justice for the Judge, an autobiography."

The book launch event that took place at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library of Teen Murti Bhavan, New Delhi also had another former CJI and Justice Gogoi's successor, Justice SA Bobde gracing the occasion. 

The release was followed by a conversation between Justice Gogoi and India Today News Director, Rahul Kanwal. Before the conversation between the duo began, Justice Gogoi addressed the event attendees.

In his speech, talking about the issues that his memoir discusses, Justice Gogoi said, "I am sure the readers would discover events which revolve around profound and deep-rooted issues that required skills and efforts beyond the ordinary to bring a closure to some issues and a beginning to others."

Also hinting towards the controversies around the decision that he made while holding the top judicial post of the country, he said,

 “The conversations around high public offices are mostly speculations fuelled by perceptions rotating in public discourse…….I would dare say unless one dare to take on the weight of the high public office it would be very difficult probably impossible to understand national or institutional interests that such high officers safeguard.”

However, the highlight of the evening remained the conversation between journalist Rahul Kanwal and Justice Gogoi.

Before beginning the session, Kanwal added that as common practice when he mentioned a few questions before Justice Gogoi a night before the event and intentionally left a few which seemed inconvenient to him, Justice Gogoi had himself told him, “I hope you’ll be asking me about X, Y and Z."

Kanwal said, "That is how Justice Gogoi is prepared and ready for this conversation."

Without venturing to reiterate each word uttered, here are the highlights of the conversation between the two.

Ayodhya Janmbhoomi Verdict

When told that he has mentioned in his book that there was a divine intervention in the Ayodhya case and it was very important for him to deliver the judgment during his tenure as CJI, Justice Gogoi said, "I did not pull out the case from cold-storage, I did not resurrect it. It was a responsibility my predecessor gave to me...... and gave a date to me....I had two options either to run or to fight. As Justice Bobde has said that I come from a family of warriors, I fought."

He added that he couldn't sleep at night as his mind kept churring because he had to pronounce the judgment within 3 months of commencement of the hearing of the case. 

"It was a responsibility that I took upon my shoulders, I constituted the bench...If I couldn't do it within the due timeframe, it would've been seen as wastage of four months' time of the judiciary and 5 judges," former CJI said. 

He added that there was only one thing in his mind and that was "the institutional reputation".

Rejecting the blame of having given priority to the Ayodhya Janmabhumi matter over others including the human rights cases that flooded before the top court post revocation of Article 377, Justice Gogoi clarified that he allocated the Kashmir cases to an alternate bench headed by available senior-most judges since his bench was already halfway through the Ayodhya case by the time those cases came to the court.

"I didn't let the Kashmir cases hibernate. Those were allotted to an alternate bench," he stressed. 

Sexual Harassment Charges

Refuting the common media perception that sexual harassment charges were leveled against him so that he could not pass any negative comments against the then ruling government, Justice Gogoi said, 

"I belong to the warrior class. In Chandigarh, I fought death and I was in 39 days in ICU. After this, you think someone has the guts to tell me what to do."

He added that though he has no hesitation in accepting that perhaps he should not have been on the bench that dealt with the matter, he stressed that the inquiry was done by an in-house process, which is there since the 1970s to protect the independence of the Judiciary. 

"In-house proceeding is not toothless. If found guilty, the guilty steps down and the president approves impeachment.....An additional registrar is part of the internal complaints committee. But I put my neck out and gave the noose to the former CJI Bobde. He would have been happy to hang me and get extra 7 months of extra tenure. What are you talking about?" he said to Kanwal.

The press conference and his Rajya Sabha nomination

Giving clarity to the intention of the judges who were part of the group which in January 2018 did a joint press conference and leveled allegations against then CJI, Justice Gogoi said, "We had to call the press conference because we were unable to persuade the then CJI Dipak Misra regarding allocation of cases to Bench. I hope it was the first and last occasion when Judges had to address the press."

He said that he was least convinced that democracy was in peril, similarly, as he is least convinced about the Rajya Sabha seat offered to him as quid pro quo for the Ayodhya judgment.

"These are all made up by media and newspapers," he said. 

He also added, "I have not taken a penny from Rajya Sabha and not even the amount that is due to me to engage office help. I am paying that too."

Executive interference in the judiciary

Outrightly rejecting the allegations of any executive interference in the judiciary during his tenure, the former CJI said that during his tenure he was provided a direct hotline to the Prime Minister and Law Minister but he threw it. 

He added that executive interference is possible to be made in hundred different ways but it depends upon the incumbent of the officer.

He also cleared out the clouds over Prime Minister Narendra Modi's private dinner in Supreme Court just before the Rafale judgment. 

"He came on November 26 on Constitution Day. I don't think there was anything wrong with it. There were judges who took selfies with the Prime Minister. They are the activist judges now," he said. 

He also stressed that "executive interference in judicial functioning is not everyday matter. It's all perceptions."

National Register of Citizens (NRC)

When asked about his take on the NRC, Justice Gogoi said,

"Who said the government wanted NRC hastily? What was correct was not said, and what's not correct was said. NRC is a constitutional obligation and we had to do it."

The conversation also revolved around a few other topics including Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and Judge's appointment and but got concluded with the ex-CJI's remarks in a lighter vein that,

"There may be justice for Rajya Sabha members book too. Life is very uncertain."