While lawyer Prashant Bhushan was on the verge of being punished for contempt of court,the pseudo secular lobby was up in arms against the Judiciary. Ironically, in 2017, Bhushan had hailed the Supreme Court judgment against Justice Karnan and tweeted how he was “Glad SC finally jailed Karnan for gross contempt of court.” One cannot fail to observe that in his tweet Bhushan did not address the sitting judge of the Kolkata High Court as ‘justice’.
This was Bhushan’s tweet:
Glad SC finally jailed Karnan for gross contempt of court.He made reckless charges on judges &then passed absurd 'orders' against SC judges!
11:33 AM · May 9, 2017
Bhushan’s tweet also implies that he is not against the Contempt of Courts Act per se but rather supports the legislation. The Contempt of Courts Act is an archaic legislation, first enacted in 1926. It has its origins in the British law. The legislation was amended later on and the present law was enacted in 1971. While the UK did away with the offence in the contempt law long ago, India continues to hold on to this. The Law Commission in its report on the Contempt Act 1971, has argued that India has a large number of cases (almost one lakh at the time of submission of the report in 2018) whereas the UK had its last such case in 1931. Hence, the Commission observed that “the high number of cases (in India) justify the continuing relevance of the Act.”
11:33 AM · May 9, 2017
Bhushan’s tweet also implies that he is not against the Contempt of Courts Act per se but rather supports the legislation. The Contempt of Courts Act is an archaic legislation, first enacted in 1926. It has its origins in the British law. The legislation was amended later on and the present law was enacted in 1971. While the UK did away with the offence in the contempt law long ago, India continues to hold on to this. The Law Commission in its report on the Contempt Act 1971, has argued that India has a large number of cases (almost one lakh at the time of submission of the report in 2018) whereas the UK had its last such case in 1931. Hence, the Commission observed that “the high number of cases (in India) justify the continuing relevance of the Act.”
Justice Karnan had to serve the entire sentence and his appeal for pardon and review at various fora, including Parliament and to then President of India Pranab Mukherjee, was ignored.
Both the cases are related to the violation of Contempt of Courts Act that has a maximum punishment of six months jail term and/or fine of Rs 2,000. In that sense, Justice Karnan was awarded the maximum punishment under the Act and sentenced without even initiating the proceeding for his impeachment.
In a brief summary of the case, BBC World wrote: “The stand-off dates from January (2017), when Justice Karnan wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagging up the names of 20 judges he alleged were corrupt.” The summary also stated that “The top court has barred the media from publishing and broadcasting Justice Karnan’s statements.” So, we don’t know his side of the story or the entire story.
Many journalists had opposed the Supreme Court’s gag order on the case reporting. Ashok Malik, presently Policy Advisor in the Ministry of External Affairs had tweeted saying, “So what if a newspaper reports Justice Karnan’s statements? Does the Supreme Court send the editor and reporter to prison? Under which law?”
The editorials and op-eds written at that time, we will find that every editor or writer was united in supporting the judgment. Same was the case with the prime time debates.
Pained by the coverage of his case, Justice Karnan had written an open letter to the media: “I have often mentioned in my communications that I am a victim of caste discrimination…It is most unfortunate and perhaps a national disaster that such critical issues never figured in most of the national publications.” He wanted the media to act in a fair and unbiased manner.
Justice Karnan had not made any public allegation of corruption against any judge. Rather, he had sent his complaint to the Prime Minister’s Office in a sealed envelope. Bhushan made the allegations on social media and were thus in the public domain.
So, how does one understand the outrage in Prashant Bhushan’s case but silence when Justice Karnan was convicted?
It can be said since Justice Karnan is a Dalit, the media acted with bias and failed to present his case in totality. Similarly, it can be said that since Prashant Bhushan belongs to the upper caste and the ruling elite, and his father Shanti Bhushan was the law minister in the Morarji Desai Cabinet. The reason for the intelligentsia not supporting Justice Karnan has more to do with their association or disassociation with the ruling structure as well as with the nature of Karnan and Bhushan’s allegations.Bhushan kis surely,pseudo secularism’s blue eyed boy.
What was the Karnan case?
Allegations of misconduct by Justice C.S. Karnan, who was sent to jail in Kolkata on Wednesday, to serve a six-month prison term for contempt of court, have been recorded in detail by past Chief Justices and Acting Chief Justices of the Madras High Court, where he served between 2009 and 2016.
Allegations of misconduct by Justice C.S. Karnan, who was sent to jail in Kolkata on Wednesday, to serve a six-month prison term for contempt of court, have been recorded in detail by past Chief Justices and Acting Chief Justices of the Madras High Court, where he served between 2009 and 2016.
Karnan had a long history of confrontation and conflict with his colleagues in the High Court and many of them were so afraid of his threats and harassment that they wanted to seek voluntary transfer to other High Courts.
Copies of correspondence among judges available with The Hindu show that Mr. Karnan was not only accused of repeated harassment of fellow judges and threatening them with prosecution, but also of seeking particular portfolios so that he could deal with “high potential cases.”
Further, there were complaints that he sat over judgments for many months after reserving orders and that he had no respect for court timings.
“He comes and goes as he pleases, sometimes sitting late and many times rising within an hour of sitting,” says a detailed letter from then Chief Justice, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, now a judge of the Supreme Court, on April 22, 2015.
In some cases, Karnan disposed of the matters after written complaints were brought to his notice.
The letter summarised the charges and complaints against Karnan. “Inability to get along with any of his colleagues”, “his perception that he is ragged by his colleagues”, “the threats held out by him to other judges,” “abusive language to his own colleagues, including women judges”, “his obsession with particular rosters, considered by him to be ‘high potential cases’” and “grave doubts being raised both on his competence and character”, are some instances of his conduct found in it.
Justice Kaul pointed out the irony in Karnan threatening one and all with action under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, while his two principal targets (Justice V. Dhanapalan and Justice S. Manikumar) are from a SC community.
In November 2011, Justice Karnan complained to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) that he was being victimised and humiliated by other judges.
The then Chief Justice, M.Y. Eqbal, wrote to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) explaining the developments. He noted that on October 8, 2011, Karnan made a written request for allotment of work either on the Writ Side or the Criminal Side on a regular basis. He was allotted bail and anticipatory bail portfolio two days later. “However, to my shock and surprise, within a few days of his dealing with Bail and Anticipatory Bail, I received oral complaints that Justice C.S. Karnan had granted bail in sensational cases involving State Ministers for other considerations.” The Chief Justice took back the portfolio only to be confronted by some advocates who took up Mr. Karnan’s cause.
In a letter to the CJI, Chief Justice R.K. Agrawal recorded how on January 8, 2014, Mr. Karnan barged into his chambers and hurled a volley of invectives.
Noting that he was getting complaints about the judge from many other judges and advocates, Justice Agrawal felt Karnan’s conduct tended to undermine the Chief Justice’s dignity. “In fact, some of my brother judges are afraid of him,” he said, while recommending Mr. Karnan’s transfer out of the Madras High Court at the earliest.
Copies of correspondence among judges available with The Hindu show that Mr. Karnan was not only accused of repeated harassment of fellow judges and threatening them with prosecution, but also of seeking particular portfolios so that he could deal with “high potential cases.”
Further, there were complaints that he sat over judgments for many months after reserving orders and that he had no respect for court timings.
“He comes and goes as he pleases, sometimes sitting late and many times rising within an hour of sitting,” says a detailed letter from then Chief Justice, Sanjay Kishan Kaul, now a judge of the Supreme Court, on April 22, 2015.
In some cases, Karnan disposed of the matters after written complaints were brought to his notice.
The letter summarised the charges and complaints against Karnan. “Inability to get along with any of his colleagues”, “his perception that he is ragged by his colleagues”, “the threats held out by him to other judges,” “abusive language to his own colleagues, including women judges”, “his obsession with particular rosters, considered by him to be ‘high potential cases’” and “grave doubts being raised both on his competence and character”, are some instances of his conduct found in it.
Justice Kaul pointed out the irony in Karnan threatening one and all with action under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, while his two principal targets (Justice V. Dhanapalan and Justice S. Manikumar) are from a SC community.
In November 2011, Justice Karnan complained to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) that he was being victimised and humiliated by other judges.
The then Chief Justice, M.Y. Eqbal, wrote to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) explaining the developments. He noted that on October 8, 2011, Karnan made a written request for allotment of work either on the Writ Side or the Criminal Side on a regular basis. He was allotted bail and anticipatory bail portfolio two days later. “However, to my shock and surprise, within a few days of his dealing with Bail and Anticipatory Bail, I received oral complaints that Justice C.S. Karnan had granted bail in sensational cases involving State Ministers for other considerations.” The Chief Justice took back the portfolio only to be confronted by some advocates who took up Mr. Karnan’s cause.
In a letter to the CJI, Chief Justice R.K. Agrawal recorded how on January 8, 2014, Mr. Karnan barged into his chambers and hurled a volley of invectives.
Noting that he was getting complaints about the judge from many other judges and advocates, Justice Agrawal felt Karnan’s conduct tended to undermine the Chief Justice’s dignity. “In fact, some of my brother judges are afraid of him,” he said, while recommending Mr. Karnan’s transfer out of the Madras High Court at the earliest.
A memorandum signed by 20 judges recounts an incident at an official dinner at the Tamil Nadu State Judicial Academy in honour of new Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul. Mr. Karnan first sat in a lounge and started abusing the High Court’s Registrars. Later, he entered the Library Hall, where the judges were waiting, and “started abusing the judges in filthy language.”
They said, “He went on taunting every judge assembled at the dinner meet and challenged them to reply to his unwarranted, unimaginable and unpalatable questions…”
They also recalled that he had misbehaved at a Full Court meeting held when Justice Satish K. Agnihotri was the Acting CJ.
Karnan also raised issues concerning selection of judges alleging that corruption and favouritism were behind the names being considered. He frequently threatened to file complaints before the NCSC against judges and officials.
The Supreme Court on 9 May 2017 held Calcutta High Court Judge Karnan guilty of contempt of court, judiciary and judicial process and sentenced him to six months imprisonment.
"We are of the unanimous opinion that Justice C.S. Karnan has committed contempt of court, judiciary and judicial process of the gravest nature," Chief Justice J.S. Khehar mentioned in the order.
The court also ordered media not to publish the content of orders passed by Justice Karnan, who on Monday issued an order sentencing eight Supreme Court judges to five years of “rigorous imprisonment” and imposed a fine of Rs. 1,00,000 each under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 and the amended Act of 2015.
The eight include members of the seven-judge Bench, headed by Justice Khehar which, in February, issued a contempt order against him on the charge of degrading the judiciary.
Justice Karnan, on his part, directed the Supreme Court judges “to appear before him on May 28” and later “reposted” the matter to May 1.
The Supreme Court Bench ordered Justice Karnan to be medically examined and on May 4, he refused to undergo medical tests as directed by the Supreme Court and told the team of doctors, in a written response, that he is “absolutely normal and with a stable mind.”
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