Union finance minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday defended the In-House Inquiry Committee of the apex court, which gave clean chit to Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi on the allegations of sexual harassment against him.

The three-member committee, which completed its task in 14 days, proceeded ex-parte as the woman had opted out of the inquiry on April 30 after participating for three days.

Speaking at an event in Delhi along with recently retired Supreme Court judge Kurien Joseph, Jaitley said that impeachment proceedings are often launched against judges to intimidate them.