Justice Karnan’s plea to recall his arrest turned down by SC

Justice CS Karnan’s request to recall his arrest order has been turned down by Supreme Court.

The 61 yr old judge was sentenced to six months in jail for contempt by the Supreme Court, which ordered his immediate arrest.

The court today refused to hear the judge’s petition and told his lawyer, “Don’t waste our time. When your petition is cleared by the Supreme Court registry we will constitute the bench.”

Karnan has been absconding since the arrest warrant has been released, as the West Bengal police is not able to track him down, while his lawyer claims that Karnan is still in Chennai.

He was held guilty of contempt by a seven-judge constitution bench after he named 20 judges he said were “corrupt” earlier this year, and wrote to several people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking for an investigation

Hours before the ruling, Justice Karnan had taken a very early flight from Kolkata to Chennai and checked himself into a state guest house. But by the time a police team from Kolkata arrived in Chennai to arrest him, he had gone missing.

The team also travelled to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on learning that the judge had scheduled a visit to a temple in Srikalahasti. But they returned without any leads.

The top court has banned the media from reporting any of his statements or rulings;

Justice Karnan has defied the Supreme Court at every step by coming out with his own “rulings” against the seven judges, matching them order-for-order.

Soon after the jail sentence was pronounced, Justice Karnan called the media to his room in the Chennai guest house and hit out at the top court.