Contempt of court written in law but must be limited to disobeying orders

A huge amount has been written and said about the decision of the Supreme Court to hold Prashant Bhushan, a lawyer, guilty of contempt of court. I have only one thing to add, namely that a conviction for contempt is as much permitted in India as capital punishment is.

The contempt provision draws its strength from a Latin term going back 2,000 years — ipse dixit, which means because “I say so” or when appropriate because “someone says so”. Nothing further is required to reach a conclusion of truth.

Judges use it in two ways. One is when they want