Former Madras High Court and Calcutta High Court judge Justice CS Karnan passed away in Chennai on Friday morning. He was 71.
Justice Karnan had been residing in Chennai and was undergoing treatment at a hospital following health complications. He reportedly died after his condition failed to respond to medical intervention.
Born in 1955 in Karnatham village in Tamil Nadu’s Cuddalore district, Justice Karnan completed his law degree from Madras Law College in 1983 and subsequently practised as an advocate. He was appointed an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court in March 2009 and was made a permanent judge in March 2011.
In March 2016, he was transferred to the Calcutta High Court. His tenure in the higher judiciary, however, was marked by several controversies, including allegations of caste-based discrimination and corruption against fellow judges. He had repeatedly alleged that he was being subjected to discriminatory treatment on account of his Dalit identity.
The controversy reached its peak in 2017 when Justice Karnan levelled corruption allegations against several sitting and retired judges of the Supreme Court and various High Courts. He also issued purported judicial directions against members of the Supreme Court, including the then Chief Justice of India.
The Supreme Court initiated suo motu contempt proceedings against him. A seven-judge Constitution Bench headed by then Chief Justice of India JS Khehar, on May 9, 2017, found him guilty of contempt of court and sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment. The verdict was unprecedented, as Justice Karnan became the first sitting High Court judge in India to receive a jail sentence for contempt of court.
Although the Supreme Court directed his immediate arrest, Justice Karnan remained untraceable for several weeks. He was eventually arrested in Coimbatore in June 2017. He retired from judicial service while the arrest warrant was still pending and was released from prison in December 2017 after serving his sentence.
Even after retirement, Justice Karnan continued to attract public attention. In 2018, he launched a political party and expressed his intention to contest the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. In December 2020, he was arrested by Chennai Police in connection with videos containing derogatory remarks against judges and women judicial officers. The Madras High Court initially declined to grant him bail but subsequently granted conditional bail in March 2021.
In December 2024, the Madras High Court dismissed a petition instituted in 2011 seeking to restrain him from making public statements against constitutional authorities and members of the judiciary, holding that the petition was not maintainable.
Justice Karnan’s judicial career remains one of the most unusual and contentious chapters in the recent history of the Indian judiciary.
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