Former Calcutta High Court judge CS Karnan, now admitted at Kolkata’s SSKM hospital with a chest pain, has sent an appeal for parole to West Bengal governor Keshari Nath Tripathi.

The judge, sent to jail by a constitution bench of the Supreme Court for contempt of court, is now retired (June 12). He was an absconder—the first high court judge in India to do so—and was arrested on June 20 evening from Coimbatore by West Bengal Police as per the apex court’s direction. He was brought back to Kolkata and lodged at Presidency Jail before he complained of chest pain and was taken to the hospital.

Karnan’s lawyer Mathews J Nedumpara said the appeal had been mailed to the governor, while the hard copy would be sent soon. The appeal said: “It is most respectfully prayed that Your Excellency, the Governor of West Bengal, be pleased to exercise the jurisdiction invested in Your Excellency and enlarge the prisoner, Shri Justice CS Karnan on bail/parole in the interest of justice and equity.”

—India Legal Bureau​