Contempt Of Scandalising The Court: An Analysis Of Free Speech
- IJLLR Journal
- 16 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Kishore Chandra Jena, Advocate and Scholar, PG Department of Law, Sambalpur University)
ABSTRACT
This article centers on and around the contradiction between free speech and the contempt of scandalising the courts. It studies the history of the laws of contempt of courts across the nation-states such as the United Kingdom, the United States of America and Union of India. This article is founded on 35 authoritative references from scholars, judges and lawyers. Evolution of the law of contempt visa vis struggle of free speech has been depicted. An attempt has been made so far to answer whether judiciary is accountable to specify resentment and discontentment of masses of people who still are firm in faith and trust on the impartiality of judiciary. The English as well as the American experience of contempt of scandalising the courts has been discussed to have a comparative study on the Indian law and practice of contempt of scandalization of courts. It is argued here that judiciary being an organ of state adheres to protect the ideology and policies propelled by the state. Empowerment of people implies constructive criticism of the state, hence judiciary falls prey thereto. In the Indian context, three case studies has been made. These are (i) EMS Namboodiripad v. T. N. Nambiar,1971, (ii) P.N. Duda v. V. P. Shiv Shankar, 1988, and Vincent Panikulangar v. V.R. Krishna Iyer. This article finds how judiciary has offered differential treatments to different alleged contemnors. The Contempt of Courts Act 1926, the Contempt of Courts Act 1952 and the Contempt of Courts Act 1971 have been discussed. The objective of this article is to alert the people as well as the students of law to act judiciously and wisely so as to hold high the dignity and the majesty of the court. At the same time, free speech has to be let live with its head high and without fear.
Keywords: defamation, contempt of court, scandalising the court, free speech
