Plea against ex-judge Karnan referred to division bench

Hearing arguments put forth by senior advocate S Prabhakaran appearing for the Bar Council seeking to direct the State police to register a FIR against the retired judge, Justice T Ravindran responded that the division bench could hear the plea more properly, as it was already hearing related matters, and passed orders to this effect.

Prabhakaran submitted that despite the High Court’s earlier order directing the removal of Karnan’s offensive posts, similar posts continued to be uploaded and no action being taken against the controversial judge.

He also pointed out that judges were being insulted with posts appearing every day, including the latest posted on Facebook. “Unfortunately, all advocates are witness to it but are keeping quiet. I do not know why the government is keeping quiet on this for such a long time,” Prabhakaran said, adding that though Justice Karnan cannot be arrested, the persons behind the uploading of the videos should be arrested.

Prabhakaran also made reference to the Supreme Court Order of 2017 that placed an embargo against Justice Karnan from indulging in deprecating the court.

Additional Public Prosecutor M Prabhavati submitted that an FIR had already been registered based on a complaint lodged by advocate Devika under Sections 153 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 67-A of the Information Technology Act was subsequently added. On November 10, a division bench comprising Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice R Hemalatha had directed the blocking of derogatory remarks made by Karnan on social media.