Poll Call

Justice Karnan forms a political party to take forward his fight against corruption.

- Rabi Banerjee

On May 3, 2017, I met justice C.S. Karnan, at his flat in Kolkata’s plush New Town, while he was being grilled by mediapersons for his relentless attacks on top judges of the Supreme Court. “I would like to take questions from lady reporters first,” he said. An hour later, during an exclusive interaction, I asked him to name one of his most historic judgments. He chose the one he gave in June 2013 as a Madras High Court judge—he ruled that the woman petitioner, who had two children with her live-in partner but was later deserted by him, be provided maintenance by her partner.

Issues related to women have always been close to Karnan’s heart, which is why his new political party—Anti-Corruption Dynamic Party of India—would send only women to the assemblies and Parliament. He chose Kolkata, where he was a High Court judge for a year (February 2016May 2017), for his political launch.

Not everyone has welcomed his decision though. “I think it is a big joke,” said Monick Malaviya, a High Court lawyer in Chennai, who sheltered Karnan when he was evading arrest following a Supreme Court order. “He should have done better things than getting into politics.” Karnan’s former legal adviser, Mathews J. Nedumpara, however, said, “Nothing is impossible in India. Who knows, he might do something great.”