Attorney-General (A-G) gave consent to a plea to initiate contempt proceedings under arrest in the Haridwar hate speech case.
Contempt of Court in India:
Supreme court is declared a Court of Record under Article 129. As a court of record, it has all the powers of such a court including the power to punish for its contempt.
Under Article 129 and 142 of the constitution of the Supreme Court, ithas been vested with power to punish for contempt of court.
Types of Contempt of Court:
Contempt can be criminal or civil.
Criminal contempt involves an intentional interference with the administration of justice.
Civil contempt is disobedience to orders or judgments of the court.
Criminal Contempt:
Scandalises or tends to scandalise, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court;
Prejudices, or interferes or tends to interfere with, the due course of any judicial proceeding;
Interferes or tends to interfere with, or obstructs or tends to obstruct, the administration of justice in any other manner.
Contempt of Court Act-1971:
Article 129 and 215 of the Constitution of India empowers the Supreme Court and High Court respectively to punish people for their respective contempt.
Section 10 of The Contempt of Courts Act of 1971 defines the power of the High Court to punish contempt of its subordinate courts.
Power to punish for contempt of court under Articles 129 and 215 is not subject to Article 19(1) (a).
A contempt of court may be punished with simple imprisonment for a term, which may extend to six months, or with fine.
Reason behind its existence:
Needed to punish wilful disobedience to court orders (civil contempt),
To prevent interference in the administration of justice.
To prevent threats to judges.
Insulate the institution from unfair attacks.
Prevent a sudden fall in the judiciary’s reputation in the public eye.
Needs to reforms:
Social Media is full of judiciary criticism. It is not good to waste the time of judiciary in exercising its power to punish for its contempt.
England itself abolished the offence of “scandalising the court” in 2013, from where the idea has been borrowed.
Contempt of law prevents media from looking at the functioning of judiciar
Definition of criminal contempt in India is extremely wide, and can be easily invoked.
Suomotu powers of the Court to initiate such proceedings only serve to complicate matters.
Criminal contempt is completely asynchronous with the modern democratic system, which recognises freedom of speech and expression as a fundamental right.
Way Forward:
It would be a progressive move if the courts itself focus on improving its accountability and transparency, that can result in improving its public image.
