Just in: Rediff.com's Onkar Singh says President Pratibha Patil rejects Justice Soumitra Sen's resignation and seeks advice from the law ministry on the issue.

Justice Soumitra Sen of the Calcutta High Court yesterday avoided the ignominy of becoming the first judge to be impeached by Parliament by tendering his resignation.

Fifty-three-year-old Justice Sen sent in his resignation to President Pratibha Patil five days before the Lok Sabha was to take up an impeachment motion against him.

The Rajya Sabha has already passed the motion making him the first judge to have been impeached by the Upper House for misconduct. In his letter to the President, Justice Sen said, "I am not guilty of any form of corruption".