On Tuesday, the Supreme Court created a history after it declared the Calcutta HC Judge C.S. Karnan guilty for the contempt of court. Karnan was punished with six months jail for the same. Karnan is set to be retired on June 11. He will be serving time in jail, a month while in service and five months after retirement.
A bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Khehar and seven other members declared that Karnan is guilty of contempt of court and judiciary and judicial process. The West Bengal DGP was ordered to take the judge into custody. Karnan had punished seven judges to five years of jail each, as they raised a contempt against him for berating the Dalits and passing unconstitutional orders. This incident happened in Madras HC, following which he was shifted to the Calcutta High Court.
This decision was supported by Additional solicitor general Maninder Singh, senior advocate KK Venugopal and Rupinder Singh, who said that Karnan committed contempt of court and should be punished exemplarily.
While many supported this decision, Venugopal questioned that if a sitting judge like Karnan was jailed, wouldn’t it create a blemish on the history of the Indian Judicial system. But the Supreme Court held its decision and said that ‘Whosoever commits contempt will get punished’. Karnan was not present for the hearing. The court also ordered to not report his statements in future.
