Former Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan was released from Presidency Jail in Kolkata on Wednesday, after serving a six-month sentence for contempt of Supreme Court. He was the first sitting high court judge in the history of the Indian judiciary to be awarded a jail term by the Supreme Court for contempt of court. Karnan left the Presidency Correctional Home premises at around 11 am, accompanied by his wife Saraswati Karnan and elder son Sugan, who had reached Kolkata from Chennai on Tuesday night. He went straight to his New Town residence in Kolkata. His lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara, who was with him when he was released, said in a statement, “It is a matter of great pleasure and relief that Justice Karnan was released from Presidency Jail today, on the completion of six months of imprisonment which a seven-judge Bench of Supreme Court headed by Justice Khehar, the then CJI, awarded to him for contempt of court.” Karnan had evaded arrest after a seven-judge bench of SC handed him a six-month jail term on May 9 for contempt of court. He was arrested from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu on June 20. Speaking to The Indian Express from Chennai, another of Karnan’s lawyers, W Peter Ramesh, said that the former judge has lost about 15 kg during his time in prison. “He will spend one week in Kolkata. After that, he will come to Chennai. He has lost about 15 kg during his stay at the prison,” he said.
