Karnan in Kolkata jail, fails to get SC reprieve

Kolkata/New Delhi, June 21 Former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan was today lodged in a Kolkata jail even as he failed to get any last-minute reprieve from the Supreme Court after being on the run for six weeks. The 62-year-old Karnan, who was arrested by the West Bengal Police from Coimbatore last evening, has been evading arrest since May 9 when a seven-judge Bench of the Supreme Court handed down a six-month prison term for contempt of court. Justice Karnan’s counsel Mathew J Nedumpara made an urgent mentioning and requested the top court to suspend the sentence and release him on bail. However, a Vacation Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul refused to give any relief to Justice Karnan. The former judge was taken to Presidency correctional home (jail) straight from the airport in Kolkata after he was brought from Chennai by a team of West Bengal state CID officers by an Air India flight, a senior police officer said. “His medical tests were completed at the airport and the judge was taken straightaway to the jail,” he said. A senior official at the Presidency jail said Justice Karnan complained of chest pain soon after he was taken inside and a team of doctors from the jail hospital examined him. “He is old and seems to be unwell too. We do not want to take any chance. An ECG was done on him,” he said. A seven-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar had on May 9 convicted Justice Karnan of contempt of court and awarded six-month jail to him for scandalising the judiciary by levelling “baseless allegations” of corruption against judges. Nedumpara wanted the sentence to be suspended on the ground that a detailed order in the case was yet to come and Justice Karnan’s mercy petition was pending with the President. Justice Karnan has earned many a dubious distinction. On June 12, he became the first HC judge to retire while absconding. He was also the first sitting HC judge to face contempt proceedings and get convicted by the Supreme Court. Justice Karnan’s whereabouts were not known for 42 days after the top court convicted him.