In a first, Indian High Court judge handed six-month jail sentence

India’s Supreme Court (SC) made history on Tuesday by holding sitting Calcutta High Court (HC) judge Justice C.S. Karnan guilty of contempt of “grievous nature” and sentencing him to six months of imprisonment.

“Contempt is contempt. Justice Karnan has to be looked at like an ordinary citizen of the country and cannot be treated like a sitting judge in this case. Justice Karnan was also found guilty of abusing the judiciary and judicial indiscretion. There is no colour or no judge, we can’t distinguish the contempt, and not decide just on the fact that he is a sitting judge that we can’t take action against him,” a seven-judge SC bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) JS Khehar said.

Additional Solicitor General Maninder Singh, senior advocate KK Venugopal and Rupinder Singh Suri agreed with the apex court that Justice Karnan has committed gross contempt of court and needed to be punished exemplarily.

The court also banned the media from highlighting Justice Karnan’s statements and “orders”.

“Justice Karnan never tired in playing his Dalit (low caste) background to berate and pass unconscionable orders against the Supreme Court 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,” the apex court observed.

Karnan was accused of contempt after he named 20 “corrupt judges” of the country earlier this year and sought an investigation alleging corruption in the judiciary. He also wrote to Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi, urging an inquiry.

“Indian judiciary is a farce by English literate dishonest rogues, rascals, bootleggers, corrupt thugs officiating as lawyers and judges foisted on gullible honest Indian citizens,” Karnan wrote in his letter to PM.

SC had ordered Justice Karnan to undergo a medical examination on May four and had

also directed West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP) to ensure that the examination was duly conducted. But Karnan declined to undergo a mental health check-up.

After the top court accused him of contempt, Justice Karnan filed a defamation case against the SC judges. After one appearance in the court, he demanded that the judges appear before him.

On Monday, Karnan had “sentenced” CJI and seven other judges of the Supreme Court to five years in jail.

On Tuesday, SC asked the courts and tribunals across the country to ignore any order passed by Karnan, who is scheduled to retire within a month.

The court also directed West Bengal DGP to form a committee of police personnel “forthwith” and arrest Justice Karnan.

source: GULF NEWS