Bench refuses bail to retd judge Karnan, dismisses all 10 pleas

Rejecting the bail pleas, Justice V Bharathidasan noted that the only defence that Karnan advanced was that he was undergoing severe mental depression due to various circumstances and was incapable of knowing the nature of his act while making and uploading the videos on social media platforms.

“However, the sequence of the videos and the contents would prima facie show that the petitioner had done all such acts deliberately knowing fully well that what he was doing was wrong and contrary to law,” the judge said. He also noted that a perusal of the transcribed text of all those video contents clearly showed that the petitioner made such abusive utterances consciously and with predetermined mind. Holding that there was prima facie and reasonable grounds to believe that Karnan committed the offence and that the gravity of offence is also very serious, Justice Bharathidasan refused to entertain the former judge’s apology and assurance of not repeating such offences in future.

“The investigation is, except in one case, still pending in all other cases. Considering the past conduct of the petitioner, this court has every reason to believe that there is likelihood of the petitioner repeating the offence in the event of releasing him on bail. Considering the past conduct of the petitioner, this court is unable to accept the undertaking given by the petitioner,” the court held.