THE CONTEMPT OF COURTS ACT, 1971

An Act to define and limit the powers of certain courts in punishing contempts of courts and to regulate their procedure in relation thereto Be it enacted by Parliament in the Twenty-second Year of the Republic of India as follows: Short title and extent (1) This Act may be called the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971. (2) It extends to the whole of India: PROVIDED that it shall not apply to the State of Jammu and Kashmir except to the extent to which the provisions of this Act relate to contempt of the Supreme Court. Definitions In this Act,, unless the context otherwise requires (a) contempt of court means civil contempt or criminal contempt; (b) civil contempt means willful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court or willful breach of an undertaking given to a court; (c) criminal contempt means 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 (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;

(d) High Court means the High Court for a State or a Union territory, and includes the court of the Judicial Commissioner in any Union territory. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Innocent publication and distribution of matter not contempt Fair and accurate report of Judicial proceeding not contempt Fair criticism of judicial act not contempt Complaint against presiding officers of subordinate courts when not contempt Publication of information relating to proceeding in chambers or in camera not contempt except in certain cases Other defences not affected Act not to imply enlargement of scope of contempt Power of High Court to punish contempts of subordinate courts Power of High Court to try offences committed or offenders found outside jurisdiction Punishment for contempt of court

8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

INDIAN COPYRIGHT ACT, 1957 [4th June, 1957] An Act to amend and consolidate the law relating to copyright. Be it enacted by Parliament in the Eighth Year of the Republic of India as follows: (i) in relation to a dramatic work, the conversion of the work into a nondramatic work; (ii) in relation to a literary work or an artistic work, the conversion of the work into a dramatic work by way of performance in public or otherwise; (iii) in relation to a literary or dramatic work, any abridgement of the work or any version of the work in which the story or action is conveyed wholly or mainly by means of pictures in a form suitable for reproduction in a book, or in a newspaper, magazine or similar periodical; (iv) in relation to a musical work, any arrangement or transcription of the work; in relation to any work, any use of such work involving its re-arrangement or alteration; 1. "work of architecture" means any building or structure having an artistic character or design, or any model for such building or structure;

"Indian work" means a literary, dramatic or musical work,(i) the author of which is a citizen of India; or (ii) which is first published in India; or (iii) the author of which, in the case of an unpublished work, is, at the time of the making of the work, a citizen of India;] 2. "infringing copy" means,(i) in relation to a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work, a reproduction thereof otherwise than in the form of a cinematographic film; (ii) in relation to a cinematographic film, a copy of the film made on any medium by any means; (iii) in relation to a sound recording, any other recording embodying the same sound recording, made by any means; (iv) in relation to a programme or performance in which such a broadcast reproduction right or a performer's right subsists under the provisions of this Act, the sound recording or a cinematographic film of such programme or

performance, if such reproduction, copy or sound recording is made or imported in contravention of the provisions of this Act; 3."literary work" includes computer programmes, tables and compilations including computer "musical work" means a work consisting of music and includes any graphical notation of such work but does not include any words or any action intended to be sung, spoken or performed with the music; "performance", in relation to performer's right, means any visual or acoustic presentation made live by one or more performers; "performer' includes an actor, singer, musician, dancer, acrobat, juggler, conjurer, snake charmer, a person delivering a lecture or any other person who makes a performance; "photograph" includes photo-lithograph and any work produced by any process analogous to

photography but does not include any part of a cinematograph film; "plate" includes any stereotype or other plate, stone, block, mould, matrix, transfer, negative,

[duplicating equipment] or other device used or intended to be used for printing or reproducing copies of any work, and any matrix or other appliance by which Sound recording for the acoustic presentation of the work are or are intended to be made; "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act; "reprography" means the making of copies of a work, by photo-copying or similar means; "sound recording" means a recording of sounds from which such sounds may be produced regardless of the medium on which such recording is made or the method by which the sounds are produced; (y) "work" means any of the following works, namely:(i) a literary, dramatic, musical or artistic work; (ii) a cinematograph film; 3. Meaning of publication.

For the purposes of this Act, "publication" means making a work available to the public by issue of copies or by communicating the work to the public. 4. When work not deemed to be published or performed in public. - Except in relation to infringement of copyright, a work shall not be deemed to be published or performed in public, if published, or performed in public, without the licence of the owner of the copyright. 5. When work deemed to be first published in India. - For the purposes of this Act, a work published in lndia shall be deemed to be first published in India, notwithstanding that it has been published simultaneously in some other country, unless such other country provides a shorter term of copyright for such work; and a work shall be deemed to be published simultaneously in India and in another country if the time between the publication in India and the publication in such other country does not exceed thirty days or such other period as the Central Government may, in relation to any specified country, determine. 6. Certain disputes to be decided by Copyright Board. If any question arises,(a) whether a work has been published or as to the date on which a work was published for the purposes of Chapter V, or (b) whether the term of copyright for any work is shorter in any other country than that provided in respect of that work under this Act, it shall be referred to the Copyright Board constituted under section 11 whose decision thereon shall be final:

Provided that if in the opinion of the Copyright Board, the issue of copies or communication to the public referred to in section 3 was of an insignificant nature it shall not be deemed to be publication for the purposes of that section. 7. Nationality of author where the making of unpublished work is extended over considerable period. -Where, in the case of an unpublished work, the making of the work is extended over a considerable period, the author of the work shall, for the purposes of this Act, be deemed to be a citizen of, or domiciled in, that country of which he was a citizen or wherein he was domiciled during any substantial part of that period. 8. Domicile of corporations. - For the purposes of this Act, a body corporate shall be deemed to be domiciled in India if it is incorporated under any law in force in India. DEFAMATION Whoever by words either spoken or intended tobe read, or by signs or by visible representations, makes or publishes any imputation concerning any person intending to harm, or knowing or HAVING reason to believe that such imputation will harm, the reputation of such person, is said, except in the cases hereinafter excepted, to defame that person. It may amount to defamation to impute anything to a deceased person, if the imputation would harm the reputation of that person if living, and is intended to be hurtful to the fellings of his family or other near relatives. It may amount to defamation to make an imputation concerning a company or an association or collection of persons as such. An imputation in the form of an alternative or expressed ironically, may amount to defamation. No imputation is said to harm a persons reputation, unless that imputation directly or indirectly, in the estimation of others, lowers the moral or intellectual character of that person, or lowers the character of that person in respect of his caste or of his calling, or lowers the credit of that person, or

causes it to be believed that the body of that person is in a loathsome state, or in a state generally considered as disgraceful. Punishment for defamation. Punishment for defamation.--Whoever defames another shall be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years, or with fine, or with both.

THE OFFICIAL SECRETS ACT, 1923 This Act may be called the Official Secrets Act, 1923. It extends to the whole of India and applies also to servants of the Government and to citizens of India outside India. Definitions In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context, (1) Any reference to a place belonging to Government includes a place occupied by any department of the Government, whether the place is or is not actually vested in Government; (2) Expressions referring to communicating or receiving include any communicating or receiving, whether in whole or in part, and whether the sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, or information itself, or the substance, effect or description thereof only be communicated or received; expressions referring to obtaining or retaining any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document, include the copying or causing to be copied of the whole or any part of any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document; and expressions referring to the communication of any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document include the transfer or transmission of any sketch, plan, model, article, note or document; 3. Penalties for spying (1) If any person for any purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State (a) approaches, inspects, passes over or is in the vicinity of, or enters, any prohibited place; or (b) makes any sketch, plan, model, or note which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy; or (c) obtains, collects, records or publishes or communicates to other person any secret official code or pass word, or any sketch, plan, model, article or note or other document or information which is calculated to be or might be or is intended to be, directly or indirectly, useful to an enemy f[or which relates to a matter the disclosure of which is likely to affect the sovereignty

and integrity of India, the security of the State or friendly relations with foreign States], he shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend, where the offence is committed in relation to any work of defence, arsenal, naval, military or air force establishment or station, mine, minefield, factory, dockyard, camp, ship or aircraft or otherwise in relation to the naval, military or air force affairs of Government or in relation to any secret official code, to fourteen years and in other cases to three years. (2) On a prosecution for an offence punishable under this section 1[***] it shall not be necessary to show that the accused person was guilty of any particular act tending to show a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State, and, notwithstanding that no such act is proved against him, he may be convicted if, from the circumstances of the case or his conduct or his known character as proved, it appears that his purpose was a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State; and if any sketch, plan, model, article, note, document or information relating to or used in any prohibited place, or relating to anything in such a place, or any secret official code or pass word is made, obtained, collected, recorded, published or communicated by any person other than a person acting under lawful authority, and from the circumstances of the case or his conduct or his known character as proved it appears that his purpose was a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State, such sketch, plan, model, article, note, document, 2[information, code or pass word shall be presumed to have been made], obtained, collected, recorded, published or communicated for a purpose prejudicial to the safety or interests of the State.