Calcutta High Court Judge CS Karnan on Friday accused the Supreme Court of being “anti-Dalit” for issuing a contempt notice against him last week, The Times of India reported. He also claimed that the court’s order is “unethical” as it is against the SC and ST (Prevention of) Atrocities Act.

On February 8, the apex court had issued a contempt notice for accusing several Supreme Court and high court judges of corruption. The bench had asked him to appear before it on February 13.

In his letter to the registrar general of the Supreme Court on Friday, he said the courts did not have the power to punish a sitting high court judge, PTI reported. “The said order does not conform to logic, therefore it is not suitable for execution,” he said.

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Justice Karnan argued that the order against him should be either heard after the Chief Justice of India JS Khehar retired or it should be placed before Parliament. “It is certainly a national issue and a wise decision would be to refer the issue to the House of Parliament,” he said in the letter according to The Times of India.

He alleged that the order “clearly shows the upper caste judges are taking law into their own hands” and accused them of misusing their power. He said the Supreme Court judges were operating against a SC/ST judge with “malafide intention” to get rid of him.

The notice against Justice Karnan had come only days after he wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to do something about the “high corruption at the judiciary”. On January 23, he had released the letter containing “an initial list of corrupt judges”. The list had 20 names on it, including sitting judges at the Supreme Court various high courts.

Chief Justice of India JS Khehar was part of the seven-judge bench that issued the notice to Karnan. The top court had taken suo motu cognisance of the matter.