In the first ever impeachment involving a sitting judge, Soumitra Sen, 53, was found guilty by parliament's upper house of "misappropriating" large sums of public funds in an abuse of his position as a justice of the Kolkata High Court.
One-hundred-and-eighty-nine members of the Rajya Sabha voted in favour of the impeachment while only 17 voted against a motion that holds Sen guilty on three counts.
"In the discussions we have had in the past two days the misbehaviour of Mr Sen has been proved," Communist Party of India MP Sitaram Yechury, who moved the impeachment motion on Wednesday, said before the vote.
Sen would be India's first sitting high court judge to be sacked if two thirds of the members of parliament's elected lower house also vote in favour of the impeachment motion.
Indian Vice President Hamid Ansari, who is also chairman of the upper house said the motion held Sen guilty for "misappropriation of large sums of money, misrepresenting facts in regards to the misappropriation of money and misbehaviour".
The only precedent for such a case was the attempted impeachment in 1993 of a Supreme Court justice, V. Ramaswami, which fell through after failing to garner the support of enough lawmakers. Ramaswami later resigned.
On Wednesday Sen, who was given an opportunity to defend himself in the upper house, told MPs he had been the victim of what he called "a mockery of justice" and denied the charges levelled against him.
The impeachment process coincided with mass protests across India in support of activist Anna Hazare, who has vowed to fast until death in protest at what he sees as a watered-down, anti-corruption law being considered by parliament.
The so-called "Lokpal Bill" would create a new ombudsman tasked with investigating and prosecuting senior politicians and bureaucrats.
Hazare's protest has focused on the fact that the bill exempts the prime minister and senior members of the judiciary from the ombudsman's scrutiny.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011