SC Sends Calcutta Former Judge CS Karnan To Jail; Denies Bail Petition:- The interim bail to controversial former judge of Calcutta, CS Karnan was denied by the Supreme Court. Yesterday, Karnan was arrested in Coimbatore.

The apex court further said that it would not interfere in the six-month jail sentence awarded to him. After the Supreme Court sentenced Karnan to six months imprisonment on May 9, he was on the run. He retired in disgrace as a Calcutta High Court judge. Karnan was the first judge even to be sentenced to imprisonment by the apex court.

Karnan was sentenced to jail by the Supreme Court, which ordered his arrest after finding him in contempt for defaming the judiciary. A vacation bench of the apex court comprising DY Chandrachud and SK Kaul, today said it cannot modify the original order, which was passed by a seven-judge bench, and asked the lawyer of Karnan to bring the matter before the chief justice of India after the vacations.

The Justice Karnan Story

Controversy has surrounded HC Judge Karnan ever since his tenure at the Madras High Court. From the Madras HC, Karnan  in 2016 was transferred to the Calcutta High Court, allegedly for his frequent run-ins with the then Madras chief justice and fellow judges at the high court.

Later, he went on to write letters to Prime Minster Narendra Modi and Law Minster Ravi Shankar Prasad, leveling serious charges of corruption and caste discrimination against sitting and retired Supreme Court judges.

It was over his letters and other statements (Karnan had once openly said, “I admit the Indian Judiciary is corrupt.”) that the Supreme Court issued a contempt notice, asking Karnan to appear before it. On March 10, after Justice Karnan refused to appear before the Supreme Court, a seven-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar issued a bailable warrant in the contempt case against him.

Following the contempt order of the Supreme Court, Karnan in April passed his own order, directing that the seven judges of the bench who issued the contempt order be barred from flying. However, he did not stop there. On May 8, Karnan took on the country’s top judiciary, passing an order to “sentence” CJI Khehar and seven other Supreme Court justice to five years of rigorous imprisonment.

Karnan In his order, said, the judges had “collectively committed offences punishable under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 and the amended Act of 2015”.

On May 9, the Supreme Court responded by sentencing Karnan to six months in jail, making him the first judge to be sentenced to imprisonment by the apex court.

Since the Supreme Court ruling, Karnan had been untraceable, with the Kolkata Police launching a hunt for the then Calcutta High Court judge.

On June 12, Karnan retired from the Calcutta High Court, without getting the customary departure. Even as he remained untraceable, Karnan communicated with the President of India through letters seeking that his sentence be suspended.

The West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department in Coimbatore on Tuesday finally arrested Karnan after being missing for over a month. Before being taken into custody, he resisted the arrest and argued with the cops, the police said.

SUPRAJA