New Delhi: Rubbishing allegations of sexual harassment against him, Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on Saturday said the independence of the judiciary is under threat and there was a "larger conspiracy" to destabilise it.

At an urgent hearing of the matter related to the allegations, a three-member Supreme Court bench, headed by the Chief Justice and including Justice Arun Mishra and Justice Sanjeev Khanna, asked the media to "exercise restraint, responsibility and wisdom so that the image of the judiciary is not tarnished by these baseless allegations."