CS Karnan misusing caste status to derail probe against him, Madras High Court told; SC/ST commission, SHRC asked not to act on complaint

Taking note of concerns that former Judge CS Karnan has been misusing his caste status to threaten investigating officers probing cases filed against him, the Madras High Court has restrained the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST) and the Tamil Nadu Human Rights Commission from taking cognizance of any complaint that may be made by Karnan (Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry v The Registrar General and ors). .Justices M Sathyanarayanan and A Nakkiran passed the ad-interim injunction order to this effect after finding that there was a prima facie case made out by the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry indicating that Karnan has been threatening the investigating team by accusing them of caste-based abuse in a bid to hamper a fair and proper investigation.."A prima facie case has been made out for grant of interim injunction ; otherwise on account of the said threat and intimidation being wielded out, the officers of the Investigation Team could be under constant threat of fear and in that event, the may not be able to carry out the investigation in a fair and proper manner. The balance of convenience as on date, lies in favour of the petitioner," the order said..Karnan was arrested last year in cases filed citing abusive and derogatory remarks made by him against the judiciary and women, which were circulated in videos uploaded online and on social media. The High Court recently dismissed his bail plea. A second bail plea was later moved by Karnan before the High Court..Meanwhile, a Division Bench headed by Justice Sathyanarayanan is also monitoring the case progression in a separate batch of writ proceedings, in which the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry is a party. These proceedings were initiated prior to Karnan's arrest in protest over the delay in his arrest. The case remains pending so that the Court can monitor the inquiry underway. .In this plea, the Bar Council had informed the Court of a complaint moved by Karnan before a Magistrate alleging that police officers had abused him by using his caste name. He had, therefore, urged the Court to take cognisance of offences under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes [Prevention of Atrocities] Act, 1989 against the said police officers. .The State had countered that Karnan's plea was nothing but coercion and threat. The Bar Council contended that Karnan was misusing and abusing his caste status to intimidate the investigating team. As such, the High Court was urged to restrain anybody from taking cognisance of any complaint made by Karnan on this count without the leave of the Court. .The High Court on Friday observed that Karnan had levelled similar allegations against judges in 2017 in a representation addressed to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), while the Supreme Court was hearing the contempt case against him. The top court had proceeded to restrain all tribunals, commissions and authorities from taking cognisance of any orders passed by Karnan after the initiation of the Supreme Court's February 2017 case. This was on the finding that none of the allegations levelled by Karnan were supported by any material and that his accusations were, therefore, malicious and defamatory. .The Madras High Court has opined that Karnan is again indulging in similar acts, which have already been frowned upon by the Supreme Court. The High Court opined that prima facie, Karnan's allegations are part of his attempts to prevent the investigators from discharging their duties properly. .Opining that their presence is necessary to decide the matter, the Court directed the presence of the National SC/ST Commission and the Tamil Nadu Human Rights Commission. Notice was also issued to these bodies. The matter will be taken up next on April 22. In the meanwhile, the Court has issued this interim restraining order:."... there shall be an order of ad-interim injunction restraining the respondents 11 and 12, viz., the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, New Delhi and the Tamil Nadu State Human Rights Commission, from taking cognizance of the representation/compliant given or to be given by the 9th respondent and his associates against respondents 3 to 5, defacto complainant as well as against the Presiding Officers who are dealing with the cases and the officials who are dealing with the matters until further orders.".Senior Advocate S Prabakaran, assisted by Advocate CK Chandrasekaran, appeared for the Bar Council of Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Government Advocate (criminal side) P Kritika Kamal appeared foe the State authorities. .[Read Order]