It was on May 9 that the Supreme Court of India had sentenced Calcutta High Court judge, Justice CS Karnan to six months imprisonment for contempt of court..In an unprecedented order, a 7-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of India JS Khehar and Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur, PC Ghose and Kurian Joseph had ordered the following:.“We are of the unanimous view that Justice CS Karnan is in contempt of this court and of judiciary and judicial process of grievous nature. We are satisfied in punishing him for contempt of court..We sentence him to imprisonment for six months.”.The Court had further ordered that the sentence shall be executed forthwith by the Director General of Police, West Bengal or through a team constituted by him..Co-incidentally, May 9 was also the last working day for the Supreme Court before it closed for the one-and-a-half month long summer vacation. After the order was passed by the Supreme Court, Justice Karnan spoke to the press. And then befitting the strange nature of the whole episode, he went off radar..He fled from Kolkata resulting in a man hunt by the West Bengal police, which led them to Tamil Nadu..And now, nearly a month later, there is no trace of the contemnor..Interestingly, advocate Mathews J Nedumpara had appeared on behalf of the sitting judge, filing a petition against the Supreme Court order of May 9. He also mentioned the matter before the vacation bench for urgent listing. His request was turned down, every single time he mentioned it, by the Vacation Bench led by CJI JS Khehar. Finally his petition was rejected by the Registry on the ground of maintainability..The order passed by the Registrar’s court categorically stated that no petition can lie against an order of the Supreme Court..The judge also made a representation to the President but to no avail..Subsequently, another message began doing rounds on WhatsApp purported to be written by the West Bengal DGP to advocate Mathews Nedumpara. The said message stated that since the Supreme Court turned down the petition filed by Karnan J., he should be advised to comply with the May 9 order of Supreme Court..The message further stated that the lawyer should stop correspondence with the West Bengal police except “that which would facilitate in the execution of the solemn order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India”..Despite all these, the police has not been able to trace the whereabouts of Justice Karnan..Times of India published a report on June 2 wherein it gave details of how the West Bengal police has failed to track down the judge..“They even tried the ‘tower dump’ technique to track down Justice Karnan by his cellphone use but that too did not work.”.The police team is camped in Tamil Nadu though the sitting judge still remains at large. The maverick judge will be demitting office on June 12 as the first judge ever in the history of India to be convicted for contempt of court..If no further development takes place, he would add another “first” to his name – the first High Court judge to retire while in hiding.
It was on May 9 that the Supreme Court of India had sentenced Calcutta High Court judge, Justice CS Karnan to six months imprisonment for contempt of court..In an unprecedented order, a 7-judge Bench comprising Chief Justice of India JS Khehar and Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, Madan Lokur, PC Ghose and Kurian Joseph had ordered the following:.“We are of the unanimous view that Justice CS Karnan is in contempt of this court and of judiciary and judicial process of grievous nature. We are satisfied in punishing him for contempt of court..We sentence him to imprisonment for six months.”.The Court had further ordered that the sentence shall be executed forthwith by the Director General of Police, West Bengal or through a team constituted by him..Co-incidentally, May 9 was also the last working day for the Supreme Court before it closed for the one-and-a-half month long summer vacation. After the order was passed by the Supreme Court, Justice Karnan spoke to the press. And then befitting the strange nature of the whole episode, he went off radar..He fled from Kolkata resulting in a man hunt by the West Bengal police, which led them to Tamil Nadu..And now, nearly a month later, there is no trace of the contemnor..Interestingly, advocate Mathews J Nedumpara had appeared on behalf of the sitting judge, filing a petition against the Supreme Court order of May 9. He also mentioned the matter before the vacation bench for urgent listing. His request was turned down, every single time he mentioned it, by the Vacation Bench led by CJI JS Khehar. Finally his petition was rejected by the Registry on the ground of maintainability..The order passed by the Registrar’s court categorically stated that no petition can lie against an order of the Supreme Court..The judge also made a representation to the President but to no avail..Subsequently, another message began doing rounds on WhatsApp purported to be written by the West Bengal DGP to advocate Mathews Nedumpara. The said message stated that since the Supreme Court turned down the petition filed by Karnan J., he should be advised to comply with the May 9 order of Supreme Court..The message further stated that the lawyer should stop correspondence with the West Bengal police except “that which would facilitate in the execution of the solemn order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India”..Despite all these, the police has not been able to trace the whereabouts of Justice Karnan..Times of India published a report on June 2 wherein it gave details of how the West Bengal police has failed to track down the judge..“They even tried the ‘tower dump’ technique to track down Justice Karnan by his cellphone use but that too did not work.”.The police team is camped in Tamil Nadu though the sitting judge still remains at large. The maverick judge will be demitting office on June 12 as the first judge ever in the history of India to be convicted for contempt of court..If no further development takes place, he would add another “first” to his name – the first High Court judge to retire while in hiding.
