Former Madras and Calcutta HC judge Justice CS Karnan arrested by Chennai Police

Former Madras and Calcutta High Court judge Justice CS Karnan has been arrested by Chennai Police from Avadi over allegedly abusive videos.

Three FIRs have been registered against former Justice Karnan over derogatory remarks allegedly made against women and the judiciary in videos uploaded online, Bar & Bench has reported.

Earlier this week, Madras High Court had directed the personal presence of the Director General of Police and the Commissioner of Police before Court on December 7, in a petition filed by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, protesting the delay in taking criminal action against CS Karnan.

On November 10, the Madras High Court issued orders directing that derogatory remarks made by Karnan be blocked from social media.

Last Monday, Chennai Police told the Madras High Court that Karnan was interrogated twice after the issuance of notice under Section 41A, CrPC. During one such interrogation, the police claimed that Karnan undertook to refrain from uploading such videos.

The Bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and R Hemalatha, however, took note that the police appeared to have been selectively resorting to Section 41A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which allows the issuance of notice in lieu of arrest where the police is of the opinion that arrest is not required. The case was expected to be taken up on December 7 next.

Karnan had served as a judge of the Madras and Calcutta High Courts, before he was held guilty of contempt of court by the Supreme Court for making unfounded allegations against the judges of the top court. He was sentenced to six months imprisonment in that case and was released from prison in December 2017.