Former Calcutta High Court Judge CS Karnan made a representation to the newly sworn-in President Ram Nath Kovind on Tuesday seeking remission of the six-month jail term awarded to him by the Supreme Court.
The controversial judge who retired in June this year was sentenced to undergo six months in jail for committing contempt of Court. His counsel Mathews J Nedumpara submitted the representation to the President, despite the fact that a similar petition was also sent to the former President Pranab Mukherjee .”We will be seeking an audience with the President in this regard as soon as possible,” Nedumpara said. The representation by Justice (Retd) Karnan has been made under Article 72 of the Constitution, which is the power of the President to grant remission.
Karnan had evaded arrest after a seven-judge bench of the apex court pronounced him guilty of contempt on May 9 this year and directed his arrest. He was arrested from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on June 20 and is presently lodged in the Presidency Correctional Home in Kolkata. In the history of the judiciary, he is the lone sitting judge of a Constitutional Court to be sent to jail.