Retired High Court Justice CS Karnan on Thursday stated that he was yet to be served a copy of the FIR filed against him by the Cyber Crime Wing of the Chennai police. He further questioned the validity of the case, as the complaint against him was filed by a non-aggrieved person. The Cyber Crime Branch booked a case against retired Justice Karnan after 10 women lawyers wrote to the Chief Justice of India against him and the Supreme court asked the advocates to approach the appropriate authorities, Peter Ramesh Kumar, counsel for Karnan told IANS on Tuesday.
"The Cyber Crime police has booked a case against me on Tuesday. I came to know about this from media reports. I have not yet been served a copy of the FIR till this time," Karnan told IANS on Thursday. He further added that he will actively cooperate with the investigation. The Cyber Crime Branch has booked the case under four sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) as per media reports, he said. The retired judge however also questioned the validity of the complaint against him.
According to him, the complaint was filed by advocate S Devika, a non-aggrieved party. He contended that only the aggrieved party can file a complaint against a person. Karnan had recently released a video in various social media sites in which he was heard making objectionable comments and threatening sexual violence against judiciary officials and their family members.
He also alleged that some Supreme Court and High Court judges have sexually assaulted women staff and named the alleged victims.
"I have released the videos on different social media sites. Should not they be made parties to the case," Karnan wondered.
It may be recalled that when Karnan was a judge in the Calcutta High Court, he was sentenced for six months jail term for contempt of court in 2017 by the Supreme Court. He was arrested by Kolkata Police and served his jail term.