Concept of

Contempt of
Court
Civil Contempt and Criminal
Contempt
Brief Introduction
Present day conception of the Contempt of Court is
derived from the English Law. In India, the codified
law on this subject was first enacted in 1926 which
was slightly amended by the Amending Act of 1937.
after the achievement of Independence, the Contempt
of Courts Act, 1952 was enacted and passed by the
elected representatives of people of free India.
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Again, it was felt that the existing law relating to
Contempt of Courts was uncertain and unsatisfactory and
in a way infringed two important fundamental rights of
the citizen provided in the Constitution namely, the right to
personal liberty and the right to freedom of expression.
Further, the judicial decisions of the various High Courts
and the Supreme Court after independence also required
that the whole law on the subject should be
comprehensively examined. Thus, the existing Act of 1952
had to be repealed and replaced by the new Act of 1971.
Act of 1971 has brought changes in
Procedure and Application
The Contempt of Courts Act of 1952 was repealed
with the enactment of this Act effecting significant
changes in procedure as well as in application.
By the re-enactment of this Act,
‘Contempt of Court’ has been segregated into ‘Civil’
and ‘Criminal’ contempt with their respective
definitions which the old Act did not contain. Though
the Old Act could not have been held nugatory in the
absence of the contd…
Contd…..
definition of the ‘contempt’ to a considerable extent
and thus proved an effort to set the long standing
doubts and controversies eclipsing the perfection of
the old Act at rest by specifying instances excluded
from the definition of contempt.
Purpose and Scope of the Act
The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 has been
introduced in the Statute book for the purposes of
securing a feeling of confidence of the people and
general and for due and proper administration of
justice in the country- undoubtedly a powerful
weapon in the hands of the law courts but that by
itself operates as a string of caution and unless
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thus otherwise satisfied beyond doubt, it would
neither be fair nor reasonable for the law courts to
exercise jurisdiction under the Statute. -As held in
Anil Ratan Sarkar v. Hirak Ghosh (2002) 4 SCC 21
In Mrityunjoy Das v. Sayed Hasibur Rahman AIR
2001 SC 1293 It was held that the purpose of the
introduction of the Act is to induce in public at large
a sense of confidence in the due and proper
administration of justice in India.
Section 14 Procedure where contempt is in the
face of the Supreme Court or a High Court
Section- 14 of the Contempt of courts Act, 1971
deals with contempt in the face of the Supreme
court has been interpreted to mean an incident taking
place within the sight of the learned judges and
others present at the time of the incident who had
witnessed such incident.
Court has power to commit instantly to prison if the
contempt is committed in the face of it as such
Contemners strike at the foundation of the society.
Principles of Natural Justice involved I
Section -14
Section 14 of the Contempt of courts Act, 1971 no
doubt contemplates issuance of notice and an
opportunity to the contemnors to answer the charges
in the notice to satisfy the principles of Natural
Justice.
However, where an incident takes
place within the presence and sight
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Of the learned judges, the same amounts to contempt
in the face of the court and is required to be dealt
with at the time of the incident itself. This is
necessary for the dignity and majesty of the courts to
be maintained.