Justice Karnan Served Bailable Warrant By West Bengal Police; Calls Contempt Case ‘Infructuous’
The warrant was issued against the Calcutta High Court Judge for failing to appear in SC.
Following the Supreme Court’s order, senior officials of West Bengal Police on Friday served a bailable warrant to Justice CS Karnan, after the Calcutta High Court Judge failed to appear in the hearing of a contempt case against him.
State’s Director General of Police Surajit Kar Purkayastha served the warrant at Justice Karnan’s residence in Kolkata, accompanied by other top officials of Kolkata Police.
Speaking to reporters, Justice Karnan rejected the warrant and said he has filed two cases with the Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi against the seven-judge bench which had issued it and the attorney general. The other, he said, was for conducting a detailed inquiry on his complain that he made on January 23 and then submitting the report to Parliament.
He added that as the contempt proceeding against him was based on his complain, the entire proceeding becomes “infructuous”.
The contempt proceedings against Justice Karnan are the first-ever against a sitting judge. They were initiated after he wrote public letters accusing members of the higher judiciary of corruption.
On March 10, the Supreme Court issued a bailable warrant against Karnan after he failed to appear before a seven-judge bench, and directed West Bengal Director General of Police to personally serve the warrant to Justice CS Karnan.
The bench had issued a notice to Justice Karnan on February 8, asking him to appear on February 13. When Justice Karnan did not appear, the date was later pushed to March 9. The top court had also ordered withdrawal of all judicial and administrative work given to Justice Karnan.
It was after Justice Karnan skipped the hearing on March 10 as well, that a bailable warrant was issued against him. While the judge has not appeared in the Supreme Court hearing, he has been speaking out publicly about the case where he alleges that he is being victimised due to his caste.
The judges hearing the matter include Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi,Madan B Lokur, Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Kurian Joseph.
The next date of hearing is March 31.
With inputs from PTI