Supreme Court Sends Ex-Judge Karnan To Jail, Denies Bail

The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied interim bail to controversial former judge CS Karnan who was arrested in Coimbatore on Tuesday.

The apex court said it would not interfere in the six-month jail sentence awarded to him.

Karnan, who retired in disgrace as a Calcutta High Court judge, was arrested when he was on the run after the Supreme Court sentencing him to six months in jail on May 9, making him the first judge 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 today said it cannot modify the original order, which was passed by a seven-judge bench, and asked Karnan's lawyer to bring the matter before the chief justice of India after the vacations.

The Justice Karnan Story

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

He later 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 Supreme Court's contempt order, Karnan passed his own order in April directing that the seven judges of the bench who issued the contempt order be barred from flying.

He did not stop there. On May 8, Karnan took on the country's top judiciary, passing an order to 'sentence' CJI Kehar and seven other Supreme Court justice to five years of rigorous imprisonment. In his order, Karnan said, the judges had "jointly 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 cross-country hunt for the then Calcutta High Court judge.

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

After being missing for over a month, Karnan was finally arrested by the West Bengal Criminal Investigation Department in Coimbatore on Tuesday. Police said he resisted the arrest and argued with the cops before being taken into custody.