Kunal Kamra and contempt of court

  •  Attorney General K K Venugopal  gave his consent for the initiation of criminal contempt proceedings against stand-up comedian Kunal Kamra.
  • This was for his tweets following the Supreme Court’s decision to grant interim bail to television anchor Arnab Goswami.

WHAT IS CONTEMPT OF COURT?

  • According to the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971, contempt of court can either be civil contempt or criminal contempt.
  • Civil contempt means willful disobedience of any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court, or willful breach of an undertaking given to a court.
  • Criminal contempt, on the other hand, is attracted by 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:
  1. Scandalizes or tends to scandalize, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court; or
  2. Prejudices, or interferes or tends to interfere with, the due course of any judicial proceeding; or
  3. Interferes or tends to interfere with, or obstructs or tends to obstruct, the administration of justice in any other manner.
  • In 2006, the government brought in an amendment, which now provides “truth” as defence provided it is bona fide and in public interest.
PUNISHMENT
  • According to the Act, contempt of court may be punished with simple imprisonment for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to two thousand rupees, or with both, provided that the accused may be discharged or the punishment awarded may be remitted on apology being made to the satisfaction of the court.
  • The Supreme Court had recently found activist-advocate Prashant Bhushan guilty of contempt of court for two of his tweets, and imposed a token fine of Re 1 on him after Bhushan refused to apologise.


SOURCE: IE

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