Report No. 274
Review of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
(Limited to Section 2 of the Act)
Table of Contents
Chapter |
Title |
Page |
I |
Introduction and Reference |
1-7 |
A. History of Contempt of Court in India |
1-7 |
|
B. Reference to the Commission |
7 |
|
II |
Existing Provisions |
8-26 |
A. What is "contempt of court"? |
8-9 |
|
B. Constitutional Provisions |
9-14 |
|
i) Courts of Record and Power to Punish for Contempt |
10 |
|
ii) Law of Contempt vis-à-vis Article 19(1)(a) |
12 |
|
iii) Other Constitutional Provisions |
13 |
|
C. The Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 |
15-19 |
|
D. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 |
19-20 |
|
E. Scope of Power |
20-24 |
|
F. Power of Parliament to Legislate on Contempt Jurisdiction |
25-26 |
|
III |
International Scenario |
27-39 |
A. Pakistan |
27-28 |
|
B. England and Wales |
29-30 |
|
C. United States of America |
30-31 |
|
IV |
Judicial Approach on Contempt |
32-39 |
V |
Criminal Contempt |
40-47 |
A. False Affidavit |
42-44 |
|
B. Ex Facie Contempt |
45-46 |
|
C. Circumventing the Judgement / Order of the Court |
46 |
|
D. Misinterpretation of Court's Proceedings |
46-47 |
|
VI |
What does not amount to contempt |
48-51 |
A. Judgement / Order - if capable of different interpretations |
49 |
|
B. Execution of Order Not Possible |
49-50 |
|
C. Order Difficult to Comply being Unclear in Terms |
50-51 |
|
D. Technical Contempt |
51 |
|
VII |
Conclusions and Recommendation |
52-57 |
Annexures |
58-60 |
|
I. Annexure I: Statement showing Contempt Cases (Civil & Criminal) in High Courts from 1.07.2016 to 30.06.2017 |
58-59 |
|
II. Annexure II: Statement showing Institution, Disposal and Pendency of the Cases relating to Civil & Criminal Contempt Cases in the Supreme Court of India as on 10.04.2018 |
60 |
|
List of Cases Cited and Discussed |
61-67 |