Apex court refuses bail to Karnan
AmitAnand Choudhary
|
New Delhi
|
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain the bail plea of former Cal cutta high court judge C S Karnan, who was sen tenced to six months in jail for contempt of court. Karnan was arrested on Tuesday after evading the law for more than a month.A vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul said the conviction order was passed by a seven-judge bench of the apex court and it could not suspend operation of the verdict.
“There is an order passed by a seven-judge bench. It is binding for all including for us. There is nothing we can do.You have to mention before the Chief Justice of India for any relief,“ the bench said.
The SC had created history on May 9 by holding a sitting HC judge guilty of contempt of court and punishing him with jail. A seven-judge bench headed by CJI J S Khehar had said Karnan was guilty of contempt of the SC, judiciary and judicial process. It had directed the West Bengal police chief to arrest the judge forthwith.
Karnan retied on June 12 while being on the run.
Pleading for interim bail, Karnan's lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara said a detailed order had not been passed against him as promised by the seven-judge bench and because of this, the former judge could not file an application seeking recall or review of the order.
“He is entitled to seek remedy by filing recall and review petition against the order. So, please suspend the sentence and grant him bail. I am not seeking any substantial order,“ he said. The lawyer told the bench that equity demanded that Karnan be granted interim bail till the bench delivered its reasoned verdict after the summer vacation.
The bench, however, was not convinced and refused to entertain his plea and asked him to approach the CJI for any relief. “Equity has to be tempered with judicial discipline and rule of law. We cannot do anything when there is a seven-judge bench verdict,“ the court said.
“There is an order passed by a seven-judge bench. It is binding for all including for us. There is nothing we can do.You have to mention before the Chief Justice of India for any relief,“ the bench said.
The SC had created history on May 9 by holding a sitting HC judge guilty of contempt of court and punishing him with jail. A seven-judge bench headed by CJI J S Khehar had said Karnan was guilty of contempt of the SC, judiciary and judicial process. It had directed the West Bengal police chief to arrest the judge forthwith.
Karnan retied on June 12 while being on the run.
Pleading for interim bail, Karnan's lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara said a detailed order had not been passed against him as promised by the seven-judge bench and because of this, the former judge could not file an application seeking recall or review of the order.
“He is entitled to seek remedy by filing recall and review petition against the order. So, please suspend the sentence and grant him bail. I am not seeking any substantial order,“ he said. The lawyer told the bench that equity demanded that Karnan be granted interim bail till the bench delivered its reasoned verdict after the summer vacation.
The bench, however, was not convinced and refused to entertain his plea and asked him to approach the CJI for any relief. “Equity has to be tempered with judicial discipline and rule of law. We cannot do anything when there is a seven-judge bench verdict,“ the court said.
No comments:
Post a Comment