Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (SR) 

New Delhi, Aug 19: Delhi National Law University topper Surbhi Karwa skipped her convocation ceremony, on Saturday, as she did not want to receive it from the Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi, who was allegedly accused of sexual harassment.

Surbhi, who was supposed to receive a gold medal for being first in her LLM class at the National Law University, Delhi was absent when her name was called out at the convocation ceremony held on August 18.  Prof (Dr) G S Bajpai, the university registrar, during the convocation said “Unfortunately, she is not here. We will award her the medal in absentia.”

As reported in Indian express, Surbhi knew that she would be awarded the gold medal, but she consciously skipped her convocation ceremony to avoid receiving the medal from CJI Ranjan Gogoi as it contradicted her morals.

Surbhi said, “It is my firm view that the Supreme Court did not follow just and fair procedure before giving clean chit to the Chief Justice of India in the sexual harassment allegations raised against him by a former employee. Therefore, the thought of receiving the award from the CJI made me feel morally uncomfortable”.

“Everything I learnt in the classroom put me in a moral quandary over the last few weeks on whether I should receive the award from CJI Gogoi. The institution he heads failed when sexual harassment allegations were made against him,” Surbhi added.

Surbhi further added that she is looking for answers to find out the roles lawyers need to play in guarding Constitutional values, which she said was mentioned by the CJI in one of his speeches.