Court rejects plea seeking release of Justice Karnan

TNN | Updated: Dec 4, 2017, 23:49 IST

Chennai: The Madras high court on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking direction to the office of the President of India to consider the immediate release of Justice C S Karnan, who was imprisoned for contempt by the Supreme Court.

The first bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice R Hemalatha rejected the plea moved by A P Gowthama Sidharthan for want of jurisdiction.

On May 9, the apex court convicted Justice Karnan, the then judge of the Calcutta high court under the Contempt of Courts Act and sentenced him to six months imprisonment. Subsequently, he retired from service on June 9 and was arrested on June 20.

Claiming that Justice Karnan, who belongs to the scheduled caste community, had been victimised and was meted out social injustice, the petitioner wanted the court to direct the office of the President to consider his representation in this regard and release the former judge immediately.

When the plea came up for hearing, the bench said they did not find any reference to the circumstances which led to the incarceration of Justice Karnan, who had been a judge of this high court and transferred to the Calcutta high court.

At the time of arrest, he was no longer a judge of any high court. This apart, the respondents in the PIL — secretaries of the office of the President of India, department of law and justice, and the secretaries-general of the National Commission for Human Rights and Scheduled Castes and the secretary of the Union ministry of social justice and empowerment — are located in New Delhi. The sixth respondent — the superintendent, Presidency Jail — is in Kolkatta. No case has arisen within the jurisdiction of the Madras high court. Hence, the PIL is not maintainable and dismissed, the bench said.