Understanding Contempt of Court
Apr. 19, 2020 • anshu sharma
Introduction
Judiciary is the institution that checks the justice in the society. It is only possible when people respects its judgments and abide by it. If people will not obey the judiciary, the confidence of people in it would be lost. Therefore, to refrain people from doing so, the concept of Contempt of court has been incorporated b the Indian judiciary. Although this act was introduced in India by the British, the Contempt of Court Act, 1971 is the newer version of this law.
What is Contempt of Court?
According to the Black’s Law Dictionary, Contempt of Court is defined as “Any act which is calculated to embarrass, hinder, or to obstruct the court in the administration of justice, or which is calculated to lessen its authority or its dignity. Committed by a person who does any act in willful contravention of its authority or dignity, or tending to impede or frustrate the administration of justice, or by one who, being under the court's authority as a party to a proceeding therein, willfully disobeys its lawful orders or fails to comply with an undertaking which he has given[i].” Therefore we can simply put this in words that the conduct of any person which could harm the integrity, authority or the dignity of the court would amount to contempt of court. The power to punish for contempt to the courts has been derived from the articles 129 and 215 of the Constitution of India, which says that the Supreme court and the High court being the court of records can punish for their contempt.
Classification of Contempt of Court
Contempt of Court Act,1971 classifies contempt into two kinds namely, civil and criminal contempt;
Civil Contempt
In this contempt, one party defies the order of the court which is for the benefit of the other party. In the case of Utpal Kumar Das v. Court of the Munsiff, Kamrup, in this case the court had ordered the contemnor to give the property, but the contemnor did not oblige by the order of the court and resisted it. The court hence, held him liable for contempt of court.[iii] So this shows that when someone defies to follow the courts’ order which is for the benefit of other party, and the other part brings this to the courts attention, such willful disobedience would fall into Civil Contempt.
Criminal Contempt
The criminal contempt can be proved if any of the three conditions are fulfilled as per the section 2(c )of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971, which says that criminal contempt is the publication of an matter or the doing of an act which would harm or scandalize the authority of the court; or an act which would interfere with the proceedings of the court; or which would interfere with the administration of justice.
Punishment for the contempt
Section 12 of this act specifies the punishment for the contempt of court. It says that the offender may be punished simple imprisonment which might extend to 6 months and that can be coupled with a fine as well which can extend up to 2000 INR.
The section expressly mentions that the punishment can be cancelled by means of a sincere apology to the court.
Defence for the contempt of court
Sec 3- Innocent publication and distribution
If a person publishes any matter that interferes or obstructs civil or criminal proceedings of the court or in other words publish something which might be an offence under this act; but he at the time of publication, had no reasonable grounds to believe that the proceeding was pending. Also if a person has distributed such publication but he had no knowledge of such a publication being present in it, then he would not be liable for the contempt.
Sec 4- Fair and accurate report of the proceeding
No person would be liable for contempt for publishing fair and accurate report of the proceedings provided that it is not expressly prohibited b the court on the grounds such as public policy, state security etc.
Sec 5- Fair criticism on the judicial act
No person will be liable for contempt if he makes a fair criticism of any judgment or an act.
Sec 6- Complaint against presiding officer of a subordinate court
No person will be liable if he makes a bona fide complaint against the judge of any subordinate court. In Re Arundhati Roy, the court observed that fair criticism of any judge will not amount to contempt if made in good faith.
Procedure to be followed when contempt of court is identified
When a person appears to have committed this offence, he is firstly informed in writing that he is charged of such contempt, secondly, he has to be provided a chance for presenting his defence, after hearing him, the court either punishes him or discharges.
Freedom of Expression v Contempt of Court
Man people and scholars believe that this is a draconian law and has been based on the ancient saying that the “king is never wrong” and does not fits in today’s’ society. The freedom of expression guaranteed but art 19 of the constitution gives people the right to express themselves freely but not at the expense of tarnishing the dignity of judiciary, which would cause the confidence of common man in the institution to be broken.
The author is Iqra Khan, a second-year student of BALLB in Jamia Millia Islamia.
- Black’s Law Dictionary.
- In Re:Arundhati Roy…. … — on, 2002 AIR (SCW) 1210
- Contempt of Court Act,1971
- The Constitution of India
- PROCEDURE AND DEFENCES IN CONTEMPT CASES, https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/188914/10/10_chapter%206.pdf
- 2 .Anubhav Pandey, All you need to know about contempt of court, https://blog.ipleaders.in/contempt-of-court/, last seen on 14/01/2020.
- Vidhikkumar,Contempt of Court:Analysis, http://www.legalserviceindia.com/legal/article-472-contempt-of-court-analysis.html, last seen at 14/01/2020.
- Diganth Raj Sehgal-Contempt of Court, -https://blog.ipleaders.in/contempt-of-court-2/, last seen on 15/01/2020.
- Utpal Kumar Das v. Court of the Munsiff, Kamrup, AIR 2008 Gau 62: 2008 (2) Gau LR 706
- https://www.latestlaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/Blacks-Law-Dictionery.pdf
- AIR 2008 Gau 62: 2008 (2) Gau LR 706
- Diganth Raj Sehgal-Contempt of Court, -https://blog.ipleaders.in/contempt-of-court-2/