Calcutta High Court Judge CS Karnan, who was sentenced six months of imprisonment by Supreme Court, retired on 12 June 2017 at the age of 62, the retirement age for a High Court judge.
Justice Karnan has been absconding from the office of Calcutta HC judge since May 2017 to escape arrest after the Supreme Court sentenced him to six months imprisonment for contempt of court and ordered his immediate arrest, making him India’s first such judge to face this.
Karnan was not present at the Calcutta High Court on the day of his retirement as he is banned from performing his judicial duties since February 2017.
In May 2017, Justice CS Karnan was sentenced for imprisonment for repeated incidents of contempt of court.
It was also the first time that the Supreme Court has sent a high court judge to jail on charges of contempt.
The Supreme Court bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra, J Chelameswar, Ranjan Gogoi, M B Lokur, P C Ghose and Kurian Joseph prohibited media from publishing any orders passed by Justice Karnan.
Justice Karnan was accused of contempt after he named 20 corrupt judges of India earlier in 2017 and sought an investigation alleging corruption in the judiciary. In March 2017, the SC ordered the Calcutta government hospital to constitute a medical board to examine the medical condition of Justice Karnan and submit a report to the court.
However, Justice Karnan refused to undergo medical tests.
Instead, he sentenced eight judges of the Supreme Court to five years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 100000 each under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
