Justice Karnan will go to jail as Supreme Court denies interim bail

The Supreme Court on Wednesday, June 21, denied interim bail to retired Calcutta High Court judge Justice CS Karnan, who was arrested from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday.

The 62-year-old, who became the only high court judge in India to be absconding at the time of his retirement, had been evading arrest since May 10 after the Supreme Court sentenced him to six months in jail for contempt.

Karnan was finally nabbed by a joint team of West Bengal Police and Tamil Nadu Police, and taken to Chennai. "We knew about his whereabouts three days ago. We were tracking phone calls of people close to him and we also have our own sources," Director General of Police Raj Kanojia told IANS in Chennai.

Now, with the Supreme Court denying him bail, Karnan will have to complete the prison sentence he received after passing his own order in which he sentenced Chief Justice of India JS Khehar and six other Supreme Court judges to five years in prison. 

Justice Karnan's has been a really unique case. He happened to be the first sitting judge of a high court to be sentenced, and his mental health was brought under serious scrutiny by the seven-judge benche that heard his case. 

It had all begun when Karnan wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi against 20 SC and HC judges. That move itself was unheard of. The SC issued a contempt notice against him, then also initiated criminal proceedings. 

While all this was happening, Karnan tried to claim that he was being victimised because he was from a lower caste. However, that did not stop him from ordering the seven Supreme Court judges who were hearing the case against him to pay him Rs 14 crore as compensation.