Indian judge jailed for contempt
A former Indian judge, who has been on the run since receiving a jail sentence last month, has been arrested and imprisoned.
Justice CS Karnan was the first sitting High Court judge in India to face a jail term. He was arrested in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday night.
He was sent to a prison in Kolkata (Calcutta), and a bail plea made yesterday morning was rejected by the Supreme Court.
A vacation bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Sanjay Kishan Kaul said that order for his arrest was passed by a seven judge bench of the apex court and it was binding.
It said that other bench could not suspend the order and asked Karnan to approach Chief Justice of India for any interim relief.
As the Supreme Court is in summer recess, the former judge can approach the Chief Justice only after vacation in July, reported TNN.
The Supreme Court had created history on May 9 by holding sitting Calcutta HC judge Karnan guilty of contempt of court and punishing him with six month jail.
A seven-judge bench headed by CJI JS Khehar said Justice Karnan is guilty of contempt of SC, judiciary and judicial process.
The Supreme Court had ordered West Bengal DGP to take into custody the disgraced judge who had passed unconscionable orders against the seven judges who had intimated contempt proceeding against him for making wild allegations against his colleagues in Madras HC, from where he was transferred to Calcutta HC.
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