The Madras High Court dismissed a PIL seeking a direction to the President’s Office to consider a plea for the immediate release of former high court judge C.S. Karnan from the Presidency Jail at Alipore, Kolkata, as not maintainable.
The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice R. Hemalatha, said that at the time of his arrest, Justice Karnan was no longer a judge of any High Court. The Bench observed that it did not find any reference to the circumstances that led to the incarceration of Justice Karnan.
The Bench also said that the respondents in the PIL were located at New Delhi and the sixth respondent – the Superintendent, Presidency Jail – was at Kolkata. “No case has arisen with the jurisdiction of the Madras High Court,” the Bench said, dismissing the PIL.
A.P. Gowthama Sidharthan, a Dalit activist and Managing Director of Dr. Ambedkar Educational Foundation based in New Delhi, had filed the PIL petition claiming that the imprisoned judge was a Dalit and that he had been a victim of social injustice.
