Justice Karnan was sentenced to six months in jail for contempt by the Supreme Court.
Justice CS Karnan's
request that his arrest order be recalled has been rejected by the Supreme Court. Justice Karnan was sentenced to six months in jail for contempt by the Supreme Court, which ordered his immediate arrest.
The court today refused to hear the judge's petition and told his lawyer, "Don't waste our time. When your petition is cleared by the Supreme Court registry we will constitute the bench."
The 61-year-old judge is in Chennai, claims his lawyer, but the West Bengal police have not been able to track him down.
Justice Karnan had challenged the constitutional validity of the Supreme Court order and his jail sentence, which is a
first for any sitting judge in Indian judicial history.
He was held guilty of contempt by a seven-judge constitution bench after he named 20 judges he said were "corrupt" earlier this year, and wrote to several people, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, asking for an investigation
Hours before the ruling, Justice Karnan had taken a very early flight from Kolkata to Chennai and checked himself into a state guest house. But by the time a police team from Kolkata arrived in Chennai to arrest him, he had gone missing.
The team also travelled to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh on learning that the judge had scheduled a visit to a temple in Srikalahasti. But they returned without any leads.
The top court has banned the media from reporting any of his statements or rulings; Justice Karnan has defied the Supreme Court at every step by coming out with his own "rulings" against the seven judges, matching them order-for-order.
Soon after the jail sentence was pronounced, Justice Karnan called the media to his room in the Chennai guest house and hit out at the top court.