R.MURALIDHARAN, ADVOCATE,

LAW LECTURER, PATENT & TRADEMARK ATTORNEY

KRISHNA & SAURASTRI ASSOCIATES, NO.17, SHESHADRI ROAD,

BANGALORE-560 055

080-22356165 Tele Fax: 080-22356164

e-mail: muralimanu@gmailcom

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CONTEMPT OF COURT

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Contempt of Court Act 1971(Act 70 of 1971)

• Received the assent of the President of India,24-12-1971

• An Act to define and limit the powers of certain Courts in punishing contempt of Court and to regulate their procedure in relation thereto.

• This Act repealed the earlier law Act 32 of 1952. H.N.Sanyal Committee submitted its report on 28th February 1963.

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The Law of Contempt is intended to be for the protection of the public.If the Authority

or respect for law is weakened,the confidence that people have in Courts ,as

Administrators of justice is diminished.

• The Law of Contempt is for protecting the seat of Justice,more than for protecting the Judge,sitting in that seat.

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Scandalizing of Courts may manifest itself in various ways:

• a) an attack on the judge,as an individual(This should be actionable as libel or slander)

• b)an attack on the Judge for what he/she does in discharge of his/her public duties.(This is contempt)

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A defamatory statement about the Judge need not necessarily be contempt of

Court -when the allegations pertain to the individual qualities of a Judge

• The Press does not have special privileges as press.It has as much rights as a private citizen enjoys.

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‘ Courts of Record’ alone have power to punish people for contempt.Courts of Record are made by Statute and have

authority to fine or imprison people.The proceedings of the Court of Record

preserved in its Archives and are called records, and conclusive evidence of

what is recorded therein.

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Contempt of Court means civil contempt or criminal contempt.

• ‘Civil contempt’ means willful disobedience to any judgement, decree,direction,order, writ or other process of a court or willful breach of an undertaking given to a court.

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‘Criminal contempt’ means the publication (whether by words,spoken or

written,or by signs, or by visible representations),or otherwise of any matter or the doing of any other act

whatsoever which • i)scandalizes or tends to

scandalize,or lowers or tends to lower the authority of any Court;or

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‘Criminal contempt’(contd.)

• ii )prejudices, interferes ,or tends to interfere with ,the due course of any judicial proceeding; or

• iii) interferes or tends to interfere with ,or obstructs or tends to obstruct,the administration of justice in any other manner.

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This definition is not exhaustive.These proceedings are neither civil nor

criminal.These are Sui generis , having penal consequences.Since these are

quasi- criminal ,the benefit of doubt is always with the Accused.

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Essentials for conviction for contempt of Court

• Before a person can be convicted, the Court should be satisfied

• a) that something bas been published which either is clearly intended or at least is calculated to prejudice a trial which is pending;

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• b)that the offending matter was published with the knowledge of the pending cause or with the knowledge that the cause was imminent;and

• c)that the matter published tended substantially to interfere with the due course of justice or was calculated substantially to create prejudice in the public mind.

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Essentials for conviction for contempt of Court(Contd.)

• Before a person can be convicted, the Court should be satisfied

• a) that something bas been published which either is clearly intended or At least is calculated to prejudice a trial which is pending;

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The offence of contempt of court will always be tried summarily.

• Civil contempt is also an offence.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CONTEMPT

• CIVIL CONTEMPT • 1. Essentially of a private

nature since they deprive a party of the benefits of an order

• 2.orders are primarily remedial; to coerce the offender to obey the court order.

• CRIMINAL CONTEMPT • 1.This is penal ; to

protect the public interest of unhampered justice administration.

• 2.When there is defiance coupled with disobedience, there will be increased punishment.

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DISTINCTION BETWEEN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL CONTEMPT(Contd.)

• Civil Contempt • 3.To constitute civil

contempt,there must be i) knowledge of the order ii ) willful disobedience

• Criminal Contempt • 3.Failure to obey an

order of Injunction is not criminal contempt as long as the aggrieved party does not abuse the Court.

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Disobedience of even illegal orders would be contempt,although the order was passed in circumstances ,in which the court was not

justified in passing it.

• But disobedience to an order of Court passed without jurisdiction does not amount to contempt.

• . An order irregularly obtained cannot be treated as nullity, but must be implicitly obeyed ,until it is discharged , by a proper application .

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• Breach of an undertaking given to Court is contempt.

Distinction between absence of pecuniary/territorial jurisdiction and

‘inherent jurisdiction’.-the former category must always be obeyed.

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Justice today is a cloistered virtue. It is not willing to tolerate criticism.Press is quite free to criticize the judgement. It should

not be in intemperate language and should not attack the Judge. Opinions, reasoning

advanced in the judgement can be differed with.

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Contempt of Court in relation to witnesses can be committed by:

• a ) keeping a witness out of the way to avoid service of a subpoena;

• b) intimidating a witness or a person likely to be called as a witness;

• c)arresting a witness while attending the court to give evidence;

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Contempt of Court in relation to witnesses can be committed by:(Contd.)

• d)endeavoring to influence a witness against a party;

• e)dismissing a servant for having given evidence on behalf of the opposite party;

• f)endeavoring by bribery or inducing witnesses to suppress evidence;and

• g)tutoring witness inside or outside the court.

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Section 3-Innocent publication about a pending judicial matter and distribution of

matter is no contempt, if the publisher has no reasonable grounds for believing that the

proceeding was pending. • A distributor of a book ,containing matter that

may be contemptuous, because of a comment on judicial matter or otherwise, may be not responsible unless he has knowledge of the contempt. This provision will not apply to newspapers.

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Sec.4:Fair and accurate report of judicial proceeding is no contempt.

• Sec.5:Fair criticism of a judicial Act is no contempt ,if the criticism is on the merits of the case.

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Sec.6 :Complaint made to the High Court,against presiding officers of the

subordinate Courts,if made in good faith, is not contempt.Unfortunately, the

Section does not make clear if complaints about High Court judges ,would come under the ambit of the

protection given by this Section.

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Sec. 7 :Even publication of information relating to proceedings in camera may not normally be

contempt,unless it falls under any of the following categories:

• a )publication contrary to the provisions of the law,time being in force

• b ) the Court expressly forbids the publication • c )publication prejudicial to the security of the

State. • d) where the information relates to a secret or

commercially valuable process,which is the issue in such proceedings.

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Defences to civil contempt : • 1) Disobeyed order was passed by a Court not

having jurisdiction • 2) vague order/order not clear and being

ambiguous • 3) Serious /reasonable question on the

interpretation of the orders. • 4) ignorance of the order allegedly being

disobeyed. • 5) nonservice of mandatory notice • 6) source of information ,not being authentic.

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Sec. 10:Power of the High Court :High Court exercises contempt

jurisdiction,even if the contempt is committed against subordinate

judiciary. • If the contemptuous act alleged, is

also an offence punishable under IPC, then the High Court will not take cognizance thereof.

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Sec.11 :High Courts have powers to try even those acts committed outside

their territorial jurisdiction or by persons who live outside the jurisdiction of the

said High Courts.

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Sec. 12 :Punishment for Contempt of Court shall not exceed the maximum

‘simple imprisonment’ of 6 months /or fine of Rs. 2000/- or both.

• Sometimes if the gravity of the contempt is less,instead of ‘simple imprisonment’ ,the condemnor may be committed to civil prison.

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Effect of Apology on contempt: If an Apology is made at the right

time,condemnor will be exonerated of the contempt.

• An Apology cannot be rejected on the ground that it is qualified/conditional and there are no bonafides in the Apology.

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Contempt by artificial persons : If a Company commits contempt, the Board of

Directors,and other officers,like the Company Secretary will be responsible.If they can prove that they are not aware of

the contempt, and tried their best to prevent contempt,they can be

exonerated.

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Sec. 13 : Merely because a contempt has been committed , it does not always

warrant punishment.Unless the contempt interferes or substantially

interferes with Justice ,there should not be any punishment.

• Sec. 14 : The High Court and the Supreme Court should provide a fair procedure for adjudication of contempt of Court cases.

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Sec. 15 : Case of criminal contempt can only be initiated by

• a ) either the High Court /Supreme Court on its own motion

• b ) Advocate General • c ) Attorney General • d ) Solicitor General • e ) any person. with the consent in writing from

the Advocate General.

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Sec .16 :Foresees possibility of contempt by judges/Magistrates acting in their

judicial capacity. • -Sec. 17 : Procedure for dealing with

criminal contempt cases • Sec. 18 :All contempt cases are heard by

a Bench of two Judges • Sec. 19 Appeals

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Sec .20 :Limitation for Contempt of Court Cases

• Sec .21 :Limitation period is 1 year from the date of contempt.

• Sec. 22 :Act shall not apply to Nyaya Panchayats and Village Courts.