 Do you know what is contempt of court and is there any constitutional or statutory provisions regarding contempt of court in India? To find answer to these questions watch the video till the end First let's see how the concept of contempt of court originated See this concept originated in England in England several centuries ago The judicial power was vested with the king that is the king served as the judge at that time There was no separation of powers So to product this judicial power of the king the concept of contempt of court originated Then after some time the concept of separation of power emerged at the time steps were taken to separate the judiciary from the Executive so the judicial authority was vested in a panel of judges who acted in the name of king Since the judges acted on behalf of the king the violation of the orders of the judges was considered an outriggers act against the king himself So anyone disobeying the orders of the judiciary were held in contempt of court. So this is how the concept of contempt of court evolved So at present disobedience to judges or obstruction of the implementation of their directives Become punishable for contempt of court. This also included comments and actions that showed disrespect towards the courts as well Now what is the objective behind the concept of contempt of court? See it is to safeguard the interest of the public because if the authority of the court is belittled Then public confidence in the administration of justice will be weakened or eroded This might result in the collapse of the entire judicial system So the concept of contempt of court is necessary for the judiciary to function smoothly See contempt of court can be of two kinds one is civil contempt and the other is criminal contempt. First, let's take civil contempt Yes, civil contempt means willful disobedience to any judgment Decrease direction order writ or other process of a court or willful breach of an undertaking given to a court This is about civil contempt now moving on to criminal contempt a criminal contempt means the publication of any matter Or doing any other act which scandalizes or lowers the authority of any court Here the term scandalizing the court refers to something that brings the authority and administration or law by the courts into Disrepute creating distressed and disbelief in the minds of the public at large a criminal contempt case Also includes the publication of any matter which interferes with the due course of any judicial proceeding or abstracts the administration of Justice in any other manner here the publication could be by words Spoken or return or by science or by visible representations So basically the difference between civil and criminal contempt is that in case of civil contempt the order of the court is not followed And in the case of criminal contempt the authority of the court is lowered Having covered the basics now. Let's see constitutional and statutory basis regarding contempt of court First is article 129 of the Indian Constitution See article 129 declares the supreme court as a court of record and the supreme court shall have all the powers of your court of record Including the power to punish for its contempt of itself Next is article 142 class 2 see it states that the supreme court has all and every power to make any order for the purpose of Securing the attendance of any person the discovery or production of any documents or the investigation or punishment of any contempt of itself So basically article 142 class 2 of the Indian Constitution Empowers the supreme court's verdicts and rulings to be enforced The article 142 class 2 also states that while performing its duty The supreme court may issue any verdict or order which is necessary to provide complete justice So this is regarding provisions that empowers the supreme court as far as the high court We have article 215 see article 215 declares high courts as a court of record And that it shall have all the powers of such a court including the powers to punish for contempt for itself So these are all the constitution provisions regarding contempt of court in addition to this We also have a statutory provision under contempt of court's act 1971 But what is the necessary for this act see if you notice carefully Although article 129 142 class 2 and 215 mentions contempt of court. It does not define what contempt of court is So it is the contempt of court act 1971 which defines what is contempt of court We saw the types of contempt of court right. They are defined by the contempt of court act 1971 See civil contempt is mentioned under section 2b of the contempt of court act and the criminal contempt is mentioned under Section 2c of the act here the punishment for the contempt of court is also provided in this act According to the act contempt of court punishes the guilty person with imprisonment that may extend to six months or Five enough rupees two thousand or both See the act also provides some production against the contempt of court proceedings As per section 3 innocent publication and distribution of matter is not contempt That is a person will not be guilty for anything published in connection with any pending Civil or criminal proceeding if at the time of publishing the person was not aware that the case was pending in court Then as per section 4 fair and accurate report of judicial proceedings is not contempt That is a person shall not be guilty of contempt of court for publishing a fair and accurate report of judicial proceedings Then most importantly under section 5 fair criticism of judicial action is not contempt That is a person shall not be guilty of contempt of court for publishing any fair comment on the merits of any case It has been here done finally decided by the court Then there is section 13 sections 13 states that no court shall impose a sentence unless it is satisfied that The contempt substantially interferes with the due course of the justice So basically only if the court is satisfied that the contempt interferes with the due course of justice The court can award a punishment for contempt of court. Finally, there is section 20 Section 20 places a time limit to initiate contempt of court case proceedings Section 20 places a limit of one year from the date on which the contempt is alleged to have been committed After this period of one year contempt of court proceedings cannot be initiated So this is all with respect to constitutional and statutory basis regarding contempt of court Now, let's see the necessity of contempt of court one by one See the contempt of court is necessary to ensure the supremacy of the judiciary in the young democratic country like India The judiciary is the last option of hope for the citizens So maintenance of supremacy of the judiciary is a necessity Then the existence of civil contempt helps ensure that courts orders are obeyed if courts orders are not obeyed Then our society might slip into chaos Then contempt of court helps product the judiciary from personal attacks If the judges are subjected to personal attacks, their judgment might get tainted Then for the proper delivery of justice the judgments must be made by independent judges without any biases Currently in our country even though there is a separate law dealing with the contempt of court The issue of trial by media is on the rise The advent of 24 hours news channels has only amplified the problem These news channels are functioning based on their vested interest So if there is no contempt of court act these news channels will push the country into complete mob rule Then India continues to have a high number of criminal contempt cases Which validates the necessity of the presence of contempt laws Finally although the contempt of court was enacted in 1971 the constitution makers included it in our original constitution in article 129 142 and 215 So there is a need for contempt of court in our country although it has its merits It also has some demerits associated with it Justice Fully as Nariman once famously said criminal contempt has fallen into disuse in most of the civilized countries around the world But not in India. So there are some issues with it. Now. Let's see some issues Firstly the contempt of court is against the fundamental rights guaranteed under article 14 and 19 See contempt of court provisions has some features that stifle our right to freedom of speech and expression So basically in a democracy even the courts have to be tolerant towards criticism This is the first issue The next issue is that the language used in contempt of court act 1971 is very vague Since the language is vague the courts can interpret the provisions liberally to prevent constructive criticism as well In some cases the contempt also violates the principle of natural justice There are various instances in which the judges acted according to their self-interest So this is against the principle of natural justice Then some use the contempt of court proceedings as judicial overreach See we have incorporated the concept of contempt of court from the British But right now contempt laws have been abolished from the United Kingdom itself So some people are of opinion that the concept of contempt of court does not find a place in modern democracy Finally, there is the issue of overburden Already our judiciary is plagued with a huge backlog So the high number of contempt cases pending in various high courts and the Supreme Court further overburden the judiciary So to conclude we can say that the scope of the contempt must be limited to willful disobedience of Directions or judgments of the court Also steps must be taken to remove the scandalizing the court part and the language defining contempt must be more clear So that the discretion in interpretation can be avoided I hope now you could understand the concept of contempt of court and the constitutional and statutory provisions regarding it These types of topics are very important in the aspect of mains examination To know more concepts like this watch the Hindu news analysis of Shankara IS Academy regularly. 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