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Judiciary is the most important of the three arms of the government. It interprets laws. The judiciary settles disputes between individuals, between the individual and the State, and among the various constituents of the State. In order that it is effective all must have faith and confidence in its impartiality, fairness and concern for the rights of the individual, interest of the State and the good of the society. For this its independence must be ensured. There must be no interference in its functioning and no attempt to intimidate or influence it. Any such thing, shall be done on the pain of punishment.
According to Sec. 2 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, contempt is of two kinds-Civil Contempt and Criminal Contempt (Cl.2 (2)).
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 (Cl.2(b)).
Criminal contempt means publication of any matter or doing of any other act whatsoever (C 1.2(c)), 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 or obstructs or tends to obstruct the administration of justice in any other manner.
Scandalisation here means scurrilous attack on the administration of justice or vilification of the entire judiciary, a particular judge or a particular court.
Publication of anything which tends to create in the minds of the people an apprehension about the integrity, ability or fairness of a judge or which tends to deter litigants from complete reliance upon the court’s administration of justice, amounts to contempt. Similarly, a publication which is likely to cause embarrassment in the judge’s mind to the discharge of his official duty is a contempt of court.
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