Justice Karnan to be released on Wednesday after serving 6-month sentence

The 62-year-old judge was on May 9 handed out the prison term by the apex judiciary for content of court.
Justice Karnan to be released on Wednesday after serving 6-month sentence
Justice Karnan to be released on Wednesday after serving 6-month sentence
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Former Calcutta High Court judge Justice CS Karnan would be released from prison on Wednesday after serving six months of imprisonment for contempt of Supreme Court, his counsel Mathew J Nedumpara said.

"It is a matter of great pleasure, nay, relief, that Justice Karnan will be released from Presidency Jail, Kolkata, tomorrow, on the completion of six months of imprisonment," Nedumpara said in a media release.

"When exactly he will be released is not clear. It could be morning, or late in the evening, if they insist on him completing the last day in jail," said the former judge's confidante M Malaviya.

The judge felt he was in jail even while he was in service because of the job-related restrictions, Malaviya said. 

News agencies have quoted Justice Karnan’s wife Saraswati as saying that she would be flying to Kolkata to be with him while he returns to Chennai. 

The 62-year-old judge was on May 9 handed out the prison term by the apex judiciary.

After remaining untraceable for over a month, he was arrested on June 20 by the West Bengal CID officials from Tamil Nadu's Coimbatore on Tuesday, and brought to Kolkata the next evening. He was lodged in Presidency jail since then.

In its judgement of May 9 which was made available on July 5, the Supreme Court had said in a statement that Justice CS Karnan had committed "grossest and gravest" act of contempt of court, thereby making himself "liable to be punished, for his unsavoury actions and behaviour”.

The bench of seven judges was headed by Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar. Other judges on the bench were Justice Dipak Misra, Justice J Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogpoi, Justice Madan B Lokur, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Kurian Joseph.

Justice Karnan, who was a former judge of the Madras and Calcutta high courts, in June, became the first siting judge in India to be jailed for contempt of court. 

(With IANS inputs)

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