Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan on Friday rejected a Supreme Court-issued warrant delivered to him by senior police officials, reported Hindustan Times. The court had issued the bailable warrant on March 10, after Karnan failed to appear for the hearing of contempt proceedings against him. The bench had tasked the Kolkata Director General of Police with producing the judge in court before March 31.
“I rejected the same [the bailable warrant] after assigning valid reasons,” he said. “This kind of demeaning acts from your lordships and further perpetrating the Atrocities Act is absolutely out of law to the utter embarrassment of a Dalit judge.”
On Thursday, Karnan had demanded Rs 14 crore from Chief Justice of India JS Khehar and six other senior judges as compensation for “disturbing his mind and normal life”. In a letter issued to the seven judges, he said, “The seven judges have prevented me from carrying out my judicial and administrative works from February 8 till now.” He also threatened to “restrain the judicial and administrative work of these judges” if he was not paid the amount within a week, The Indian Express reported.
He is facing contempt charges for degrading the judiciary. On Wednesday, Justice Karnan had passed a suo motu order directing the Central Bureau of Investigation to inquire into his complaint of corruption against 20 sitting and retired judges, reported The Times of India. He also asked the agency to submit its report to Parliament, adding that the Madras High Court had evidence to prove his allegations.
Earlier, he had accused the Supreme Court of being “anti-Dalit” for issuing the contempt notice against him. He had also claimed that the court’s order was “unethical” and a violation of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of) Atrocities Act.
Justice Karnan came into the news on February 8 after the apex court issued a contempt notice against him for accusing several Supreme Court and high court judges of corruption. The bench had asked him to appear before it on February 13.
The notice against Justice Karnan came only days after he wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to do something about the “high corruption in the judiciary”. On January 23, he had released the letter containing “an initial list of corrupt judges”. The list had 20 names, including sitting judges at the Supreme Court and various high courts.
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