Justice Karnan’s case a boost for equality

The imprisonment for contempt of court of Justice C.S. Karnan, who recently retired as a judge of the Calcutta High Court and whose plea for release on bail was rejected by the apex court was unavoidable if the ends of justice were to be met. The judiciary would have been accused of double standards had Justice Karnan not been jailed because he was given ample opportunity to express regret for making wild and unsubstantiated allegations against a number of fellow judges. One cannot agree with those who feel that the dignity of the judiciary has been compromised by Karnan’s arrest. On the contrary, by not shielding one among them the higher judiciary has enhanced the dignity of the institution and reaffirmed the principle that everyone is equal before law. While the former judge’s misdemeanours were serious enough, his disdainful refusal to answer the contempt charge and his going into hiding to avoid arrest for nearly seven weeks further reinforced his waywardness and disregard for law. An opportunity was also offered to Justice Karnan to be medically examined to determine if he was in proper mental condition but he brushed it aside. In his last days in office, he was stripped of all judicial work but he was unrelenting.

The higher judiciary cannot deny that there are lessons to learn from the ugly Karnan episode. The former judge doubtlessly erred in making wild, unsubstantiated allegations against some judges and in misbehaving with fellow judges but the fact remains that corruption as such is a fact of life in the judiciary as in any other walk of life and the judiciary needs to take corrective measures to nip it in the bud before it assumes greater proportions. Another aspect that the Karnan example unravels is the glaring inadequacies in the collegium system of appointment of judges— that an ill-suited candidate like Justice Karnan could pass through the system apparently without detection of his idiosyncrasies. There is also a manifest lacuna in the current system which militates against disciplining errant judges. The Constitution does provide for impeachment but that is a longwinded and cumbersome process which has never yielded results. The whole issue needs to be deliberated upon and reforms initiated. Justice Karnan now has the option of moving the court to seek suspension of his sentence or of appealing to the President for its remission but it is heartening that the principle of accountability has been well and truly established with the arrest of Justice Karnan.