CHENNAI: Embattled Calcutta High Court judge Justice C S Karnan
has petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra
Modi seeking pardon from the six-month sentence pronounced upon him by
the Supreme Court for contempt of court.
In a letter written to the President, the PM and other functionaries
of the republic, the judge challenged the Supreme Court’s sentence and
claimed to have been singled out for punishment because he raised “the
little voice from within against corruption in the higher judiciary.”
Further, he added, “The President of India appointed me as a judge
and the President alone could have removed me and that too upon an
impeachment motion which has received the 2/3rd majority of the members
of Parliament. ”
Here is the full text of the letter written by Justice C S Karnan of
the Calcutta High Court to the President, Prime Minister and others.
Justice C S Karnan
Judge, High Court of Judicature at Calcutta
To
1. His Excellency Shri Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, President of India, New Delhi 110 004
2. His Excellency Shri H M Ansari, Vice-President of India, New Delhi 110 011
3. Hon’ble Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, New Delhi 110 011
4. Hon’ble Mrs Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker of Lok Sabha, New Delhi 110 001
5. All the Hon’ble Members of Parliament
6. Leaders of all political parties
May it please your excellencies
Sub: My Impeachment and imprisonment without authority of law and
allegations of corruption against incumbent Hon'ble Chief Justice of
India - Urgent intervention of the president/Members of Parliament --
plea for pardon/plea for remission or pardon of punishment and/or
suspension or stay of sentence.
1. I address this letter with a heavy heart, with unbearable pain of
suffering and injustice meted out to me by none other than a bench
headed by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, the judiciary itself to
which I belong.
2. I am convicted for contempt of court by the Hon'ble Supreme Court
of India for no offence committed by me. I am convicted and sentenced
for 6 months for commission of an offence of Contempt of Court, that too
by usurping the jurisdiction invested in the parliament, so too in a
trial even without a charge sheet being framed while I did not commit
any contempt of court at all. What is the offence? Did I commit a
contempt of Court? In all humility I beg to submit, I did not. All that I
did was to raise the 'little voice from within', against corruption in
the higher judiciary, so too many a malpractices, I am afraid to say,
even tyranny. My accusation is against individual judges, my brothers,
who abused their office and indulged in corruption. Today if a judge is
willing to pledge his conscience and sell justice, he is free to do it.
He could do so fearlessly. The whistleblower, the one who acts upon the
'still voicefrom within' will be sent to jail for contempt of court. The
President of India appointed me as a judge and the President alone
could have removed me and that too upon an impeachment motion which has
received the 2/3rd majority of the members of Parliament. But I am not
only impeached, but even being sent to the jail without any such
impeachment motion against me, by a mere judicial order of a 7 judges
bench!!! The judgment against me is not mere abuse of the contempt of
court law, but violation of the constitution and the usurpation of the
jurisdiction of parliament.
3. There is a suicide note by Shri. (Late) Kalikho Pul, former Chief
Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, alleging that the Hon'ble Mr. Justice
Jagdish Singh Khehar, the Chief Justice of India, so too Hon'ble Mr.
Justice Dipak Misra through their son/ brother, ventured to sell justice
for a huge sum running into crores. I am the last man to authenticate
the veracity of these allegations. But a suicide note is a dying
declaration. An element of sanctity is attached to it. However, till
date not even an FIR has been registered. I am told that the National
Lawyers Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms and some other
persons have filed a Writ Petition in Hon'ble Delhi High Court, and
despite all efforts they could not get the case listed. Shri. (Late)
Kalikho Pul's wife wrote to the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India and to
avoid a judicial burial of the said allegations of corruption by the
Chief Justice of India himself, Shri. Dushyant Dave, the former
President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, the Counsel in that
case, had to withdraw the complaint. Brevity is the soul of wit. I must
conclude. I part with the unstinted faith that the two issues, which I
narrated above, my impeachment and imprisonment without authority of law
and allegations of corruption against incumbent Hon'ble Chief Justice
of India will be looked into, which I believe is the solemn duty of your
excellencies.
4. My counsel, Shri. Mathews J.Nedumpara is authorised to prefer a
more detailed application for remission/suspension of the sentence in
terms of Article 72 of the Constitution of India, so too under the Code
of Criminal Procedure.
With kind regards
Yours sincerely
Justice C.S. Karnan
Chennai,
13/05/2017