new delhi:Calcutta High Court’s Justice CS Karnan has sentenced the Chief Justice of India JS Kher and seven other judges of the Supreme Court for a five-year rigorous imprisonment. There is a dispute between Justice Sharan and the Supreme Court judges for some time now. This is the first time in the history of the Indian judiciary when the judge of the Supreme Court was sentenced by a lower court judge.
Punishment under SC-ST act
During the verdict, Justice Karan said that all the eight judges of the Supreme Court together have violated the revised provisions of the same Act in the SC-ST Act of 1989 and 2015. The names of the judges who have been sentenced besides Chief Justice JS Kher; Justice Deepak Mishra, Justice Chelameswar, Justice Ranjan Gogoi, Justice Madan Lokur, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghosh and Justice Kurien Ghosh. All of these judges were members of that bench, who started the process of contempt by taking self-cognizance against Justice Karnan. Apart from this, Justice Karna has also sentenced Justice Bhanumati to his verdict. According to Justice Karnan, Justice Bhanumati, along with Justice Khehar, stopped him from fulfilling judicial and administrative responsibilities.
What did Justice Karan say?
In his verdict, Justice Karnan convicted all the judges for discrimination on the basis of caste. According to him, all eight judges used their judicial and administrative powers to insult a Dalit judge. Justice Karna in the verdict said that the orders of these judges confirm these allegations. Justice Karanan told this decision at his temporary residence in Kolkata’s Rosedale Tower.
Punishment under these streams
This decision was made by Justice Karnan under sub-sections (1) (m), (1) (r), (1) (u) and section 3 of the S-act. All the judges have been asked to pay a fine of 1-1 lakh rupees. He was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment for not paying fines. Justice Karan also said that the judgment which he had pronounced on April 13 for fines of Rs 14 crore for seven judges included in the bench is still intact. He ordered the Registrar General of the Supreme Court to recover the amount from the salaries of these judges. In addition to this, he ordered Justice Bhanumathi to pay a fine of 2 crores.
What was the dispute?
Actually, Justice Karan had accused of corruption against several judges of the Madras High Court and the Supreme Court. The Bench of the 7 judges of the Supreme Court took suo motu cognizance of the letters written by Justice Karanan in this regard and started a case of contempt of court against him. In February, the Supreme Court banned him from taking any kind of administrative and judicial decisions. In this regard, Justice Karanan appeared in the Supreme Court on March 31. Those who did this were the first judges of any High Court. He issued summons against the Supreme Court judges on 2 May under Article 226 of the Constitution. At the same time, the bench of the Supreme Court argued that Justice Sharan’s mental condition is not well. As a result, the order of his medical test was also released. But on May 4, Justice Sharan had denied medical examination saying that she was completely fine.
