CHENNAI: THE first bench of the Madras High Court has rejected a PIL plea for a direction to the President’s office in New Delhi to consider the immediate release of Justice CS Karnan, who is serving jail term in the Presidency Prison in Kolkatta.The Supreme Court convicted Justice Karnan on May 9 last, when he was a judge of the Calcutta High Court, under the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, and sentenced him to six- month imprisonment. He retired from service on June 9 last and was arrested on June 20.
AP Gowthama Sidharthan, Managing Director of Dr Ambedkar Educational Foundation, New Delhi, filed the PIL, claiming that Justice Karnan, a Dalit, had been victimised and was meted out social injustice.
The Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice R Hemalatha rejected the plea on Monday.
The judges said that they did not find any reference to the circumstances, which led to the incarceration of Justice Karnan, who had been a judge of this High Court and transferred to the High Court at Calcutta. At the time of arrest, he was no longer a judge of any High Court. The respondents in the PIL - secretaries of the Office of the President of India, department of Law and Justice, and the secretaries-general of the National Commission for Human Rights and Scheduled Castes and the secretary of the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment - are located in New Delhi. The sixth respondent - the Superintendent, Presidency Jail - is in Kolkatta. No case has arisen within the jurisdiction of the Madras High Court. Hence, the PIL is not maintainable and dismissed, the Bench said.