Controversial former high court judge C.S. Karnan dies in Chennai

According to a report by The Hindu, controversial former high court judge C.S. Karnan passed away in Chennai on 13 November 2026. He was 71 years old and breathed his last at a private hospital. During his tenure, Karnan was sentenced to 6 months in jail by the Supreme Court for contempt of court, and after his retirement, he had to go to jail once again in the year 2020.

According to this report, Karnan was born on 12 June 1955 in Karnatham village of Cuddalore district. He enrolled as an advocate with the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry on 11 April 1984 and practiced in civil, criminal, constitutional, and service matters in the Madras High Court, City Civil Courts, and Family Courts.

Following a recommendation by the high court collegium in 2009 and approval by the Supreme Court collegium, he was appointed as a judge of the Madras High Court. This collegium included the then Chief Justice A.K. Ganguly and judges S.J. Mukhopadhaya and P.K. Misra, while the Supreme Court collegium included the then Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan and judges B.N. Agrawal and Arijit Pasayat.

During his tenure as a judge in the Madras High Court, Karnan alleged that other judges treated him poorly because he belonged to a Scheduled Caste. He also clashed in open court with the then Chief Justices R.K. Agrawal and Sanjay Kishan Kaul regarding recommendations for the appointment of judges to the high court and allegations of discrimination against Scheduled Caste lawyers.

Subsequently, on 10 March 2016, he was transferred to the Calcutta High Court. In February 2017, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court headed by the then Chief Justice J.S. Khehar initiated suo motu contempt of court proceedings against him for making baseless allegations against other judges and restrained him from performing judicial and administrative functions as a high court judge.

On 1 May 2017, the Supreme Court ordered the West Bengal government to constitute a board of doctors from Calcutta's Pavlov Government Hospital to examine Karnan and report whether he was in a mentally fit state to defend himself. However, Karnan refused to undergo medical examination and gave a written declaration on 4 May 2017 that he was of perfectly normal and stable mind.

Thereafter, on 8 May 2017, he passed an "order" under the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, sentencing the then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and 7 other judges to 5 years of rigorous imprisonment and also imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on each. He ordered the Commissioner of Police, New Delhi, to execute his order and granted these eight judges permission to approach Parliament.

One day after this incident, a seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court found Karnan guilty of criminal contempt and sentenced him to 6 months in jail. The court observed that his conduct towards a large number of judges and the judiciary in general was seriously tarnishing and damaging the image of the concerned individuals as well as the entire judiciary.

However, the West Bengal police could not execute this order of the Supreme Court as Karnan went underground, and he reached the age of superannuation on 12 June 2017. After an intensive search, the police arrested him from Coimbatore on 20 June 2017. Even after serving his sentence, Karnan continued to openly criticize a large number of judges with allegations of corruption and caste-based discrimination.