Contempt law to be amended

The central government has approved an amendment to the Contempt of Court Act, 1971, which enables a person accused of scandalising the court to defend himself contending that what he had stated in public was indeed true.

As the Act is interpreted by the Supreme Court, even if he can justify his accusations with evidence, it would not absolve him from guilt.

This view of the Supreme Court, expressed in several of its judgments, was a sore point among the legal profession and public figures for decades.

The AB Vajpayee government had introduced the amendment in the last Lok Sabha, but it lapsed following its dissolution. The present government has now decided to re-introduce it.

The Contempt of Courts (Amendment) Bill, 2003, "will enable the courts to permit a defence of justification by truth on satisfaction as to the bona fides of the plea and it being in public interest," a note issued after the Cabinet meeting said here.

The Bill will be introduced in the winter session of Parliament.

Several allegations against judges do not come out into the open because the accusers cannot escape punishment even if they establish the truth of their charges. An offence under the Act invites six months simple imprisonment or a fine of Rs 2,000 or both.

If the judges of the high court and the Supreme Court are to be punished for indiscretions, the only course available is the lengthy process of impeachment. This has not occurred in this country, though several judges of the higher judiciary have been accused of serious charges.

The Act deals with civil and criminal contempt. A civil contempt is committed when a person does not implement the order of the court. But the more serious criminal contempt involves scandalising or lowering the authority of the court.

This could be done by publishing or doing an act which scandalises or lowers the authority of the court, or prejudices or interferes with the due course of the judicial proceedings.

But fair and accurate reporting of judicial proceedings or fair comment on the judgments are not contempt.