Published On : Tue, May 9th, 2017

Unprecedented: Supreme Court sentences sitting W.B. Judge Karnan to jail for 6 months!

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CJ Karnan
New Delhi: The Supreme Court of India created history on Tuesday by holding sitting Calcutta High Court judge C.S. Karnan guilty of contempt of court and punishing him with six month jail.

Karnan, who was to retire on June 11, will spend the last month of his tenure as judge and five months thereafter in jail.

The ape court of the country had to take this dire step as Justice Karnan defied order after order to go on making contentious statements against Supreme court panel of judges – even ordering for them to be taken into custody and imprisoned for 5 years.

The SC had earlier also asked for a Medical examination to be conducted on Justice Karnan to ascertain whether he was of sound mind and body. He refused to go in for the test.

The Supreme Court ordered West Bengal DGP to take Karnan into custody.

Justice Karnan it may be mentioned never tired in playing the dalit background card to berate and pass unconscionable orders against the seven judges who had intimated contempt proceeding against him for making wild allegations against his colleagues in Madras HC, from where he was transferred to Calcutta HC.

Additional solicitor general Maninder Singh, senior advocate KK Venugopal and Rupinder Singh Puri agreed with the apex court that Justice Karnan has committed gross contempt of court and needed to be given exemplary punishment.

Venugopal took a while to think and said said if Justice Karnan is sent to jail now it would create a blemish in the history of judiciary as a sitting judge being jailed. Should the court wait till his retirement, he asked. To which SC opined that justice does not differeniate between who is what.

Press also has been prohibited from broadcasting any comment or remark made by Justice Karnan here onwards.

The decision was made in abesntia of Justice Karnan, who is said to be in Chennai at the present.