The Supreme Court on Tuesday held Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan guilty of contempt of court, and sentenced him to six months in prison, reported The New Indian Express. The apex court also asked the media to refrain from reporting about the contentious judgments passed by the judge against his colleagues in the recent past.
The tussle between Karnan and his colleagues has been going on for months now. While the Calcutta High Court judge has accused several judges in High Courts and the Supreme Court of discriminating against him because he is a Dalit, the top court had ordered a medical test to be conducted on him to ascertain if he is mentally sound. He will retire in June.
Karnan was issued a contempt notice on February 9 for degrading the judiciary and making allegations of corruption against Supreme Court judges. The SC bench had rejected his demand to be allowed to discharge his judicial duties, holding that the 61-year-old High Court judge was not in a clear state of mind. It had issued a bailable warrant against him on March 10.
Karnan had summoned the judges to his “residential court” on April 13, claiming that they had insulted him in open court when they had questioned his mental health during a hearing on March 31.
On May 1, the Supreme Court bench, which had issued Karnan a contempt notice on February 8, had ordered the Calcutta High Court justice to undergo medical tests to check his psychological condition, but the judge had refused to do so on May 4.
Besides Chief Justice Khehar, the other judges named in Karnan’s order are justices Dipak Mishra, Ranjan Gogoi, Kurian Joseph, Madan B Lokur, J Chelameswar, R Banumathi and Pinaki Chandra Ghose. However, Justice Banumathi is not part of the bench that had issued the contempt notice against Karnan.
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