The Supreme Court on Friday refused a plea by Justice C.S. Karnan’s lawyer to suspend his six-month sentence for committing contempt.
Chief Justice of India J.S. Khehar, who was heading a Constitution Bench looking into the triple talaq issue when the lawyer mentioned the matter, said seven seniormost judges of the SC had considered the case of Justice Karnan and had unanimously reached their verdict on May 9.
Advocate Mathews Nedumpara submitted before the Bench that there is a provision under the Contempt of Courts Act of 1971 which allows the contemner (Justice Karnan) to tender an unconditional apology even after being pronounced guilty.
Mr. Nedumpara submitted that he had been unable to file a petition in the SC Registry and so, had come directly before the Bench.
“What is this? You come here morning, afternoon and evening... go to the Registry and file whatever you want. You handed over the petition yesterday (May 11) directly to us and now you want to file more papers?” Chief Justice Khehar asked, dismissing the lawyer before resuming the hearing in the triple talaq issue.
This was the second consecutive day that Mr. Nedumpara approached the same Bench. On May 11, he had handed over a writ petition accompanied by a re-call application challenging the prison sentence awarded to Justice Karnan. He had submitted that he was representing the judge and had procured his signature from Chennai.
In his petition, Justice Karnan claimed that he was not under the disciplinary jurisdiction of either the CJI or the seven-judge Bench, and that he could be impeached only by an order of the President
