What is punishment for contempt of court

These, however, do not always hold and are dismissed by the Attorney General of India, whose prior consent is required for the Supreme Court to initiate criminal contempt action. So what really does the law say about contempt of court?

When is one guilty of it? According to the Contempt of Courts Act, , contempt of court can either be civil contempt or criminal contempt. Civil contempt means wilful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court. On the other hand, criminal contempt means the publication whether by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise of any matter or the doing of any other act whatsoever which.

There are two stages to commencing proceedings for contempt of court:. The application will be heard by the court without the presence of the person who is alleged to have committed contempt of court. The purpose of this stage is to allow the court to assess whether there is sufficient basis to have the person alleged to have committed contempt brought to court or whether the application should be dismissed without disturbing him.

The application will be served on the person who is alleged to have committed contempt of court. A hearing date will then be fixed for the court to hear both parties and to determine whether the person had committed contempt of court.

Being convicted for contempt of court is punishable by fine or imprisonment or both. There are both civil and criminal contempt; the distinction is often unclear. A judge who feels someone is improperly challenging or ignoring the court's authority has the power to declare the defiant person called the contemnor in contempt of court. There are two types of contempt: criminal and civil.

Criminal contempt occurs when the contemnor actually interferes with the ability of the court to function properly. For example, by yelling at the judge. This is also called direct contempt because it occurs directly in front of the judge. A criminal contemnor may be fined, jailed, or both as punishment for his act.

Civil contempt occurs when the contemnor willfully disobeys a court order.