Number of Indian Americans in elected offices not reflective of their population: Kamala Harris
New Delhi, March 31
Faced with a contempt charge, controversial Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan on Friday dared the Supreme Court to send him to jail after it refused to restore his judicial and administrative work.
“My lord, impose punishment on me… send me to jail. I will not appear on the next date,” Justice Karnan told a seven-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India JS Khehar after it refused to restore his judicial and administrative work withdrawn last month in view of the contempt proceedings.
“Unless you restore my work, I will not be normal,” Justice Karnan said, questioning the top court’s decision to impose what he termed as “punishment” without hearing him out.
The bench, however, gave him four weeks to firm up his response and file an affidavit as he gave confusing and conflicting answers to the questions posed by the bench.
It asked him to be personally present on May 1, the next date of hearing.
It said if he wished, he could hire a lawyer to represent him.
Justice Karnan–who had earlier demanded Rs 14 crore as compensation from the seven judges on the bench for disturbing his mind and normal life–entered the court almost five minutes before the proceedings began at 10.30 am and sat in the front row.
As the CJI asked him if he wanted to say something, he repeated the allegations levelled in his complaints to the Prime Minister and other constitutional authorities.
At the same time, he said he wanted to apologise because of his respect for the institution.
“But what you are saying is contrary to what you have written to us. In your letter, you have tendered an unconditional apology,” the CJI told Justice Karnan asking him to clarify his position.
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi said the judge had repeated the allegations and his apology too wasn’t unconditional and hence couldn’t be accepted.
In a first, the Supreme Court had on March 10 issued a bailable warrant against Justice Karnan after he failed to appear before it for the second time to answer a contempt notice.
It had ordered West Bengal Director General of Police to execute the warrant to secure the presence of Justice Karnan before the top court on March 31. He has been ordered to furnish a personal bail bond of Rs 10,000.
On behalf of the West Bengal DGP, senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told the bench that the warrant had been served and the contemnor judge was before the court. He also informed the court as to how initially Justice Karnan had passed an order setting aside the SC warrant.
The contempt proceedings have been initiated against Justice Karnan for writing letters to various authorities, including the Prime Minister, accusing several judges of corruption.
After the top court’s order, Justice Karnan had described the bailable warrant against him as “unconstitutional”. Talking to the media in Kolkata, Justice Karnan had said: “I am being targeted as I am a Dalit. This is a caste issue. The order has been deliberately issued against me. This is an attempt to ruin my life. The warrant is unconstitutional.”
In an unprecedented order, the SC had on February 8 issued contempt notice to Justice Karnan and ordered him to forthwith refrain from discharging any judicial or administrative functions and return all files. It had asked him to appear before it on February 13.
As he failed to appear, the top court gave him 25 days to respond to the contempt notice and asked him to appear on March 10 but he didn’t show up. Then the court had issued the bailable warrant against him for March 31.
He also informed the court that he had vacated the official accommodation in Chennai and handed over the keys to Registrar (Administration) on Thursday.
