Justice Karnan held guilty of contempt, sentenced to 6 months in jail by SC

A defiant Justice Karnan rejected the SC order and claimed that he would pass an order to set it aside

The Supreme Court has sentenced Justice C S Karnan to six months imprisonment after holding him guilty of contempt. The court took note of the fact that he had not appeared before it despite being summoned. The order comes a day after Justice Karnan sentenced 7 judges of the SC to five years imprisonment under the SC/ST Act.

With this C S Karnan becomes the first sitting High Court judge to be convicted of contempt and sent to prison. A seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Chief Justice of India J S Khehar held justice Karnan in contempt and passed the order. The Supreme Court also banned the media from publishing any statements made by Justice Karnan.

"Contempt is contempt irrespective of sitting judge or not," the bench observed. The bench asked the West Bengal police to arrest Justice C S Karnan immediately.

Reacting to the order of the Supreme Court Justice C S Karnan said that he would not surrender and would pass an order to set aside the SC order. "SC is not following legal procedure. I will pass another order to set aside the Supreme Court's order. The SC order against me is a breach of law," Justice C S Karnan said.

The sentence comes a day after the Calcutta High Court judge sentenced seven Supreme Court judges including the Chief Justice of India to seven years rigorous imprisonment. In his order, Justice Karnan had said that the SC judges have committed offences punishable under the provisions of the SC/ST Atrocities Act of 1989 and amended Act of 2015.

OneIndia News