Bailable warrant handed to Karnan, judge rejects it
Also seeks compensation of Rs 14 crore from the seven judges of the Apex Court for having stopped his judicial and administrative work
In an unprecedented development, the director general of West Bengal police Surajit kar Purakayastha along with Kolkata police commissioner Rajeev Kumar on Friday went to the residence of Calcutta High Court Judge C S Karnan and served him a bailable warrant which was issued by the Supreme Court in a contempt case on March 10. The apex court of the country had asked the West Bengal director general of police to “personally” serve the warrant to Justice Karnan.
The warrant was served to the 61-year-old judge after he skipped hearing in a contempt case. The Supreme Court issued the warrant to ensure his presence before the apex court on March 31. A strong contingent of police force was posted outside the resident of Justice when the senior officials entered his home to serve the notice.
Chief Justice of India J S Khehar and six other judges had summoned Justice Karnan to court for contempt on February after his controversial allegation about corruption in the judiciary. Justice Karnan even wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi alleging corruption among former and current judges in the country. After he exposed his allegations in public, the apex court transferred him from Madras High Court to the Calcutta High Court.
According to sources, Justice Karnan rejected the warrant saying “We will go according to the law. I am processing legal weapons.”
On the same day when the apex court issued the warrant against him, Justice Karnan called a ‘court’ on the lawns of his city resident and ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to initiate probe against the seven Supreme Court Judges who had issued the contempt notice against him.
He also wrote to the seven senior most Judges and demanded a compensation of Rs 14 crore for disturbing his mind and normal life.
In his two-page letter, Justice Karnan said “You have constituted an unconstitutional bench after breaking the Indian constitutional law and passed a suo motu contempt order and restrained me from judicial and administrative work and that order was passed with malafide intention in order to harass a Dalit judge (myself).”