CJI, 7 other SC judges sentenced to 5 years in jail

Calcutta high court`s Justice C S Karnan "sentenced" the Chief Justice of India (CJI) J S Khehar and seven Supreme Court judges to five years` imprisonment on Monday after he "found them guilty" under the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes Atrocities Act, 1989, and the amended Act of 2015.

The order comes amid a tussle between the Supreme Court and Karnan over contempt proceedings against the latter, which are being carried out by seven of the judges, reports Times of India.

Contempt proceedings were initiated by the CJI-led bench against Karnan after he continuously levelled corruption allegations against the Madras high court chief justice and other judges.

Karnan, who is set to retire in June, was stripped of his judicial and administrative powers by the SC on February 8. Issuing his order on Monday, Karnan also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on the eight judges. The fine is payable within one week to the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, a constitutional body, in New Delhi.

Justice Karnan also directed the Delhi police commissioner to execute the order, and barred the Supreme Court judges from either holding office or deal in any case on the file of the Supreme Court.

The order comes after Justice Karnan, a Dalit, directed the seven SC judges to pay him a compensation of Rs 14 crore.

On Monday, the judge directed the registrar general attached to the Supreme Court to recover the amount. The amount should be remitted to his account through the registrar general, Calcutta high court, his "order" stated.

In the 12-page "order", pronounced by him "in his make-shift court at his residence in Rosedale Tower, Newtown, Kolkata", Justice Karnan directed the judges to surrender their passports in keeping with an earlier order on April 13.

He has also directed immigration authorities against issuing visas to the judges. However, he mentioned in the order that the accused persons are at liberty to approach Parliament in case they are aggrieved. Last week, Justice Karnan had refused to undergo a medical examination of his mental health ordered by the SC. He called the order a "big insult" "meant to spoil" his image in society.