Former High Court judge CS Karnan booked for offensive remarks against SC judges’ wives
Last week, 10 lawyers from the Bar of Madras High Court had requested Chief Justice of India SA Bobde to intervene in the case.
The Chennai Police on Tuesday booked former High Court judge CS Karnan for a video in which he allegedly made offensive remarks against a woman judge and the wives of Supreme Court judges, The Hindu reported.
An unidentified police officer told the newspaper that Karnan was charged under provisions of the Information Technology Act, the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Woman Act and three sections of the Indian Penal Code. A lawyer from the Madras High Court had filed a complaint against him.
The complainant also asked the police to remove the video from social media platforms.
Last week, 10 lawyers from the Bar of Madras High Court had requested Chief Justice of India SA Bobde to intervene in the case and stop the circulation of the controversial video. The lawyers alleged that the video showed Karnan making a statement that “he had already threatened to sexually assault the wives of thirteen former and present Supreme Court judges and a retired woman judge of the Supreme Court”.
They also said that Karnan had named several women employees of the court and lawyers, and alleged that they had been sexually harassed by judges of the Supreme Court and High Court.
“The video and its contents are outrageous, reprehensible and constitute offences under the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act, 1998, 66A if the Information and Technology Act and Sections 292,354 A and 506 of the IPC. What is worse is naming the alleged victims, an act prohibited by law, a fact that a judge should surely know.”
— Madras High Court lawyers in letter to Chief Justice of India SA Bobde
The lawyers also said that Karnan’s remarks revealed a “deep-rooted misogyny” and sent a dangerous message to “depraved men, who seem to exist in large numbers”.
Karnan has also faced other controversies in his career. In May 2017, he became the first sitting High Court judge to be held guilty of criminal contempt of court. A constitution bench of the Supreme Court sentenced him to six months imprisonment. After the sentence, he went into hiding. He was arrested a month later and was sent to Presidency Jail in Kolkata, where he underwent imprisonment till December 2017.