The complete judgment in the case of In Re Hon’ble
Justice C.S Karnan was recently published by the Supreme Court, and is briefed
herein below.
Coram:
·
Chief Justice JS Khehar
·
Justice
Dipak Misra,
·
Justice
Jasti Chelameswar
·
Justice
Ranjan Gogoi
·
Justice
Madan B Lokur
·
Justice
Pinaki Chandra Ghose
·
Justice Kurian
Joseph
Date: 09/05/2017
Matter: Contempt of Court
Nature of
initiation of Proceedings: Suo-Motu
Facts
in Brief: A series of allegations
leveled against various judges of the
Madras High Court – letters sent to highest executive and judicial authorities –
alleging academic qualifications of a newly appointed judge to be “bogus”,
decisions of two other judges as “not independent judicial function”, etc. – accusation
against CJ of Madras HC for approaching the SC against suo-motu Order passed by
J. Karnan himself and of caste segregation and “ragging” – series of allegations
against several judges of the Madras HC, including illicit relationship with
each other, etc. – Suo-Motu proceedings initiated for contempt of Court – Bench
of seven senior-most Judges of the Supreme Court was constituted, to examine
whether or not Shri Justice C.S. Karnan was guilty – accused was asked to
appear in Court but did not – passed several suo-motu Orders to police
Officers, Air Control Authority, etc. to register cases against the Judges of
the SC (including the CJ), restrain them from travelling abroad, and even
sentencing them to 5 years of rigorous imprisonment.
Decision
of the Supreme Court: The Court
ruled that Sri Justice C.S. Karnan has committed contempt of
the judiciary. His actions were held to constitute contempt of this Court and
of the judiciary of the gravest nature and he was convicted and sentenced to
six months of imprisonment. The Court also ordered
that no further statements made by him should be published hereafter, since the
incident of contempt includes public statements and publication of orders made
by him which were highlighted by the electronic and print media.
Relevant
portions of the Judgment: (in
brief)
“……Justice Karnan shielded himself from
actions, by trumpeting his position, as belonging to an under-privileged caste”
[and] “…leveled obnoxious allegations
against innumerable Judges of the Supreme Court, Chief Justices of the High
Courts, but mostly against Judges of the Madras High Court.”
“His
public utterances turned the judicial system into a laughing stock”
“None
of his actions can be considered as bona fide, especially in view of the
express directions issued by this Court… requiring him to refrain from
discharging any judicial or administrative work.”
Relevant Statutes (Indian Kanoon):
·
Contempt of Courts Act, S. 2(c), 12 and 14
·
Constitution of India, Article 20
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