Contempt of court can be either civil or criminal, according to the Contempt of Courts Act of 1971.
Wilful disobedience of a court’s judgement, decree, direction, order, writ, or other process, or wilful breach of an undertaking provided to a court, is referred to as civil contempt.
On the other hand, criminal contempt is attracted by the publication (whether by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise) of any matter or the performance of any other act whatsoever which:
- scandalises or tends to scandalise, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court; or
- prejudices, or interferes or tends to interfere with, the due course of any judicial procedure; or
- in any other way interferes or threatens to interfere with, or obstructs or threatens to obstruct, the administration of justice.
The government introduced an amendment in 2006 that now allows “truth” to be used as a defence if it is genuine and in the public good.
WHY IS ATTORNEY GENERAL’S CONSENT NEEDED TO INITIATE CONTEMPT OF COURT PROCEEDINGS?
Subsection 1 of Section 15 (Cognizance of criminal contempt in other cases) of The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 reads: “In the case of a criminal contempt, other than a contempt referred to in Section 14 (“Procedure where contempt is in the face of the Supreme Court or a High Court”), the Supreme Court or the High Court may take action on its own motion or on a motion made by (a) the Advocate-General, or (b) any other person, with the consent in writing of the Advocate-General…”.
In August, Attorney General Venugopal denied a request by Anuj Saxena seeking his permission to file criminal contempt of court charges against actor Swara Bhasker for allegedly uttering “derogatory and scandalous” statements about the Supreme Court.
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CONTEMPT OF COURT AND COURTS BEING THE COURT OF RECORD
The High Court and the Supreme Court are both courts of record, and as such, they have the authority to penalise contempt of themselves as well as contempt of courts that are subordinate to them.
In Re: Vinay Chandra Mishra v. The Unknown (1995)- According to the Supreme Court, the superior court’s contempt jurisdiction is not founded on legislation, but rather is inherent in the court because it is a court of record. As a result, the Supreme Court and High Courts have contempt power because the constitution considers them to be courts of record.
PUNISHMENT FOR CONTEMPT OF COURT
The Supreme Court and the High Courts have the authority to penalise contempt under Articles 129 and 215 of the Constitution.
As a result, the Contempt of Courts Act of 1971, Section 12, establishes a penalty for contempt of court. It specifies the type and severity of penalty that courts can impose for contempt.
Contempt is punishable under section 12 by a simple six-month jail sentence, a fine of Rs. 2000, or both. The next clause specifies that the penalty for contempt cannot be more than six months in prison and a fine of Rs 2000. As a result, the highest penalty that the courts can impose for contempt is this.
Prashant Bhushan, an activist and advocate, was recently found guilty of contempt of court for two of his tweets, and a nominal fine of Re 1 was levied on him when he refused to apologise.
REFERENCES
https://prolawctor.com/what-is-contempt-of-court-all-you-need-to-know/https://indiankanoon.org/docfragment/761887/?formInput=article%20129
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