PROJECT ON

“Contempt of Court”

SUBMITTED TO -
Dr. Tanaya Kamlakar
SUBMITTED BY – Vivekanand Jha
ID NO. – 41
[LLB 1st Year – 2022- 2023]

KLE COLLEGE OF LAW,

NAVI MUMBAI

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 CONTENT

TITLE: - .................................................................................................................................................. 3

ABSTRACT: - ........................................................................................................................................ 3

KEYWORDS: - ...................................................................................................................................... 3

INTRODUCTION: - .............................................................................................................................. 3

ESSENTIALS OF CONTEMPT OF COURT: -................................................................................. 4

TYPES OF CONTEMPT OF COURT: - ............................................................................................ 4

CIVIL CONTEMPT .......................................................................................................................... 4

DEFENCES OF CIVIL CONTEMPT ............................................................................................. 4

CRIMINAL CONTEMPT ................................................................................................................. 5

PUNISHMENT FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT ........................................................................... 5

CASE LAW TOWARDS CONTEMPT OF COURT......................................................................... 6

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONTEMPT OF COURTS ACT, 1971 ...................................... 7

CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................................... 7

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TITLE: -

Contempt of Court

ABSTRACT: -

This term can likewise be comprehended as far as the opportunity of cutoff points of the legal continuing.
As we realize that all appointed authorities in courts can give legal procedures which have a specific
breaking point in which it has the opportunity to make any legal continuing and anything which reduces
or stops it in making any legal continuing which is of need can add up to the scorn of court. In India, the
idea of Contempt of Court is characterized in Section 2(a) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 which
has comprehensively portrayed it as common hatred or criminal scorn.

KEYWORDS: -

Contempt, Court, Dignity, Disrespect, Offence

INTRODUCTION: -

Contempt of court often referred to simply as "contempt", is the offense of being disobedient to or
disrespectful towards a court of law and its officers in the form of behavior that opposes or defies
authority, justice, and dignity of the court. It manifests itself in willful disregard of or disrespect for the
authority of a court of law, which is often behavior that is illegal because it does not obey or respect the
rules of a law court. The term Contempt of Court can be effectively comprehended as when we are ill-
bred or defiant towards the official courtroom which implies that we willfully neglect to comply with
the court request or lack of regard for the lawful specialists. At that point, the appointed authority has
the privilege to force endorses, for example, fines or can send the contemnor to imprisonment for a
specific timeframe in the event that he is seen as blameworthy of Contempt of Court. Around then these
adjudicators and governing bodies were delegates of the awesome principle government and these
appointed authorities and lawmaking bodies assumed a significant job in legitimizing the elements of
these rulers. Contempt of court is defined as any willful disobedience to, or disregard of, a court
order or any misconduct in the presence of a court. It can also be in reference to an action that
interferes with a judge's ability to administer justice or that insults the dignity of the court. Being
convicted for contempt of court is punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. There are two types of
contempt civil and criminal contempt.

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ESSENTIALS OF CONTEMPT OF COURT: -

❖ Disobedience to court procedures, its requests, judgment, order.

❖ Contempt can be either spoken or composed, or by words, by signs, or by the obvious portrayal.
❖ The court should make a ‘substantial request’ and this request ought to be in ‘information on the
respondent.
❖ The activity of the contemnor ought to be conscious and furthermore, it ought to be obviously
negligence of the court’s organization.

TYPES OF CONTEMPT OF COURT: -

Contempt of Court is of two types Civil Contempt and Criminal Contempt

CIVIL CONTEMPT
Civil contempt: Under Section 2(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act of 1971, civil contempt has been
defined as willful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ, or other processes of a
court or willful breach of an undertaking given to a court. Civil contempt occurs when the contemnor
willfully disobeys a court order. This is also called INDIRECT CONTEMPT because it occurs outside
the judge's immediate realm, and evidence must be presented to the judge to prove the contempt. A civil
contemnor, too, may be fined, jailed, or both. The fine or jailing is meant to coerce the contemnor into
obeying the court, not to punish him, and the contemnor will be released from jail just as soon as he
complies with the court order. In family law, civil contempt is one way a court enforces alimony, child
support, custody, and visitation orders which have been violated1.

DEFENCES OF CIVIL CONTEMPT

A person who is accused of Civil Contempt of case can take the following defenses:
Lack of Knowledge of the request: An individual cannot be held obligated for Contempt of Court on
the off chance that he doesn’t have the foggiest idea about the request given by the court or he professes
to be unconscious of the request. If somebody is arguing under this safeguard then he can say that the
demonstration done by him was not done persistently, it was only a simple mishap, or he/she can say
that it is outside their ability to control.

1
Contempt of Courts Act of 1971
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CRIMINAL CONTEMPT
Criminal contempt: Under Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act of 1971, criminal contempt has
been defined as the publication (whether by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible
representation, or otherwise) of any matter or the doing of any other act whatsoever which.2

i. Scandalizes or tends to scandalize, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court, or
ii. Prejudices, or 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.

For example, by yelling at the judge. This is also called DIRECT CONTEMPT because it occurs
directly in front of the judge. A criminal contemnor may be fined, jailed, or both as punishment for his
actions.

PUNISHMENT FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT

Section 12 of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971 talks about the punishment for Contempt of Court. High
Court and the Supreme Court have been enabled to rebuff somebody for the Contempt of Court. Section
12(1) of this Act expresses that an individual who asserted with the Contempt of Court can be rebuffed
with straightforward detainment and this detainment can stretch out to a half year (6 months), or with a
fine which may reach out to 2,000 rupees or can be of both kind discipline. Notwithstanding, a
denounced might be released or the discipline that was granted to him possibly transmitted relying on
the prerequisite that on the off chance that he makes a statement of regret, and this expression of remorse
ought to fulfill the court, at that point no one but he can be absolved from the discipline of Contempt of
Court. Clarification of this sentence is that in the event that the denounced made an expression of
remorse in the true blue, at that point this statement of regret will not be dismissed on the ground that it
is contingent or qualified.

2
Contempt of Court Act, 1971.
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CASE LAW TOWARDS CONTEMPT OF COURT
In Bhatnagar and Co. Ltd. v. Union of India,3 the court held that the undertaking must be
unconditional, unqualified, and express. Where the party gives the undertaking to the Court on the basis
of certain implications or assumptions which are false to his knowledge, he will be guilty of misconduct
amounting to Contempt of Court. What is required to avoid the contempt proceeding is substantial
compliance with the order of the Court.

In Delhi Judicial Services Association v. State of Gujarat & others, 4 the court held that the definition
of criminal contempt is wide enough to include any act of a person which would tend to interfere with
the administration of justice or which would lower the authority of the Court. The scope of the criminal
contempt has been made very wide so as to empower the Court to preserve the majesty of law which is
an indispensable condition, for the rule of law.

In State v. Sajjan Kumar Sharma,5 the court held that according to Section 6 of the Contempt of
Courts Act, 1971 a person shall not be guilty of contempt of Court in respect of any statement made by
him in good faith concerning the presiding officer of any subordinate Court to-
(a) any other subordinate Court, or
(b) the High Court, to which it is subordinate.
Section 6, thus, enables a person to make a bona fide complaint concerning a subordinate Judge to-
(a) another subordinate Judge who is superior to him; or
(b) the High Court to which he is subordinate.
The protection of section 6 is available only when the complaint is made in good faith. To satisfy
this condition it must be proved that the complainant has acted with due care and attention.

In M B Sanghi, Advocate vs High Court of Punjab and Haryana6 -Unable to secure an ad-interim
stay in favor of his client, the appellant, a practicing Advocate, uttered certain words imputing motives
to the Sub-Judge in refusing to grant the stay. Had the effect of scandalizing the Court and impairing
confidence of the public in Court, Hence guilty of contempt. Tendering 'unqualified apology' in case

3
Am 1957 se 478 at pp. 481-482.
4
(1991) 4 SCC 406.
5
1986 PLIR (NOC) 34.
6
[AIR 1991 SC 1834:1991( 3 )SCC 600].
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Court finds him guilty, not sincere-Contemnor addicted to using of contemptuous language against
Judges and tendering apology, Apology used merely a device to escape, not to be accepted use of
contempt jurisdiction against erring members of the legal profession-

SALIENT FEATURES OF THE CONTEMPT OF COURTS ACT, 1971

➢ Innocent publication and distribution of matter – not contempt (Sec.3)
➢ A fair and accurate report of judicial proceeding – not contempt (Sec 4)
➢ Fair criticism of judicial act - not contempt (Sec.5)
➢ Complaint against presiding officers of subordinate courts when not contempt- in respect of any
statement made by him in good faith (Sec.6)
➢ Publication of information relating to proceedings in chambers or in camera - not contempt
except in certain cases (Sec.7)

CONCLUSION

There needs to be a clear distinction between criticism and contempt, not all criticism should be taken
as contempt. In addition, the weapon of contempt of court should not be used in routine nature but rather
be exercised where there is an imminent or present danger to the image and integrity of the court. The
image of the court cannot be vandalized by a few statements, its integrity is decided by the quality of
judgment it delivers.
When it comes to corruption allegations on the judiciary prosecuting the person who made the statement
might be seen as seeking to conceal the wrongdoing, prosecuting them hardly upholds the dignity of
judges in such cases rather a factual analysis should be done.

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