A first: Calcutta HC judge CS Karnan sentenced to 6 months in jail by Supreme Court

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered controversial sitting Calcutta High Court judge C S Karnan be immediately sent to jail for 6 months for committing contempt of court by his scandalous remarks.

This is probably the first time that a sitting judge has been sent to prison.

The court directed Bengal DGP to constitute a team to take him into custody. "History will judge us for not doing anything," CJI JS Khehar observed, refusing to wait till Justice Karnan retires in May to punish him.

Justice Karnan had levelled allegations against several judges of the Madras High Court and the apex court and stubbornly refused to take the allegations back. To make things worse, he had passed orders against the seventh judge bench, which was hearing his contempt case.

In a bizarre order yesterday, he had sentenced all the judges to jail terms of six months. That was the final straw. The top court had earlier stripped Karnan of all administrative and judicial duties.

SC has also banned media from publishing content of orders passed by Karnan.