CHENNAI: Embattled Calcutta High Court judge Justice C S Karnan has petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking pardon from the six-month sentence pronounced upon him by the Supreme Court for contempt of court.
In a letter written to the President, the PM and other functionaries of the republic, the judge challenged the Supreme Court’s sentence and claimed to have been singled out for punishment because he raised “the little voice from within against corruption in the higher judiciary.”
Further, he added, “The President of India appointed me as a judge and the President alone could have removed me and that too upon an impeachment motion which has received the 2/3rd majority of the members of Parliament. ”
Here is the full text of the letter written by Justice C S Karnan of the Calcutta High Court to the President, Prime Minister and others.
Justice C S Karnan
Judge, High Court of Judicature at Calcutta
To
1. His Excellency Shri Pranab Kumar Mukherjee, President of India, New Delhi 110 004
2. His Excellency Shri H M Ansari, Vice-President of India, New Delhi 110 011
3. Hon’ble Shri Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, New Delhi 110 011
4. Hon’ble Mrs Sumitra Mahajan, Speaker of Lok Sabha, New Delhi 110 001
5. All the Hon’ble Members of Parliament
6. Leaders of all political parties
May it please your excellencies
Sub: My Impeachment and imprisonment without authority of law and allegations of corruption against incumbent Hon'ble Chief Justice of India - Urgent intervention of the president/Members of Parliament -- plea for pardon/plea for remission or pardon of punishment and/or suspension or stay of sentence.
1. I address this letter with a heavy heart, with unbearable pain of suffering and injustice meted out to me by none other than a bench headed by the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India, the judiciary itself to which I belong.
2. I am convicted for contempt of court by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India for no offence committed by me. I am convicted and sentenced for 6 months for commission of an offence of Contempt of Court, that too by usurping the jurisdiction invested in the parliament, so too in a trial even without a charge sheet being framed while I did not commit any contempt of court at all. What is the offence? Did I commit a contempt of Court? In all humility I beg to submit, I did not. All that I did was to raise the 'little voice from within', against corruption in the higher judiciary, so too many a malpractices, I am afraid to say, even tyranny. My accusation is against individual judges, my brothers, who abused their office and indulged in corruption. Today if a judge is willing to pledge his conscience and sell justice, he is free to do it. He could do so fearlessly. The whistleblower, the one who acts upon the 'still voicefrom within' will be sent to jail for contempt of court. The President of India appointed me as a judge and the President alone could have removed me and that too upon an impeachment motion which has received the 2/3rd majority of the members of Parliament. But I am not only impeached, but even being sent to the jail without any such impeachment motion against me, by a mere judicial order of a 7 judges bench!!! The judgment against me is not mere abuse of the contempt of court law, but violation of the constitution and the usurpation of the jurisdiction of parliament.
3. There is a suicide note by Shri. (Late) Kalikho Pul, former Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh, alleging that the Hon'ble Mr. Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar, the Chief Justice of India, so too Hon'ble Mr. Justice Dipak Misra through their son/ brother, ventured to sell justice for a huge sum running into crores. I am the last man to authenticate the veracity of these allegations. But a suicide note is a dying declaration. An element of sanctity is attached to it. However, till date not even an FIR has been registered. I am told that the National Lawyers Campaign for Judicial Transparency and Reforms and some other persons have filed a Writ Petition in Hon'ble Delhi High Court, and despite all efforts they could not get the case listed. Shri. (Late) Kalikho Pul's wife wrote to the Hon'ble Chief Justice of India and to avoid a judicial burial of the said allegations of corruption by the Chief Justice of India himself, Shri. Dushyant Dave, the former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association, the Counsel in that case, had to withdraw the complaint. Brevity is the soul of wit. I must conclude. I part with the unstinted faith that the two issues, which I narrated above, my impeachment and imprisonment without authority of law and allegations of corruption against incumbent Hon'ble Chief Justice of India will be looked into, which I believe is the solemn duty of your excellencies.
4. My counsel, Shri. Mathews J.Nedumpara is authorised to prefer a more detailed application for remission/suspension of the sentence in terms of Article 72 of the Constitution of India, so too under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
With kind regards
Yours sincerely
Justice C.S. Karnan
Chennai,
13/05/2017