Contempt Law and Practice

Name - Siya Bhadra

Roll no - A004
Third year - B.L.S LLB – Semester V – SVKM’s Pravin Gandhi College of Law

Q: Write a short note on contempt of courts in India (not more than 300 words)

Answer-

Contempt of Court is a legal violation committed by an individual who disobeys a

judge or otherwise disrupts the legal process in a courtroom. Contempt of Court
can be written, oral, physical, or simply a visual expression. The offence of
Contempt of Court is governed by the Contempt of Court Act, 1971. Multiple
recommendations for the amendment of this Act have been made, however, the
274th Law Commission’s Report opined that no necessary amendments need to
be made to this Act.Under Article 129 of the Contempt of Court Act, 1971,
Contempt of Court proceedings can be initiated in the Supreme Court whereas
under Article 215, proceedings can be initiated in the High Court. Contempt of
Court is broadly classified into two categories- Civil and Criminal. The defence of
double jeopardy cannot be used for contempt of court if the proceeding of the
matter is in civil and criminal courts separately. Civil Contempt of Court occurs
when an individual wilfully disobeys a judgment or order of the Court whereas a
Criminal Contempt of Court occurs when individual through his actions,
behaviours, or expression disrespects, disobeys or disrupts the Courts
proceedings. An example of the same would be the Prashant Bhushan case. In
the offence of Contempt of Court simultaneous proceeding within the - Civil and
Criminal jurisdictions can be initiated. A recent example of Contempt of Court
was when a litigant attempted to commit suicide in the Bombay High Court after
losing a case. The same occurred in the courtroom of Justice PD Naik however,
no contempt of Court proceedings have been initiated but such an act disrupting
the Court’s proceedings can be considered as Contempt of Court.