Can a social media post about an imminent hearing amount to criminal contempt? An advocate has asked the Attorney General for consent to initiate contempt against Saurav Das over an X post on a Bench headed by the Chief Justice of India, while accepting that fair criticism of courts is permissible. New Delhi: Advocate Kaushik […]
The Calcutta High Court’s Circuit Bench at Port Blair has dismissed a contempt petition against a Joint Civil Judge, holding that contempt is not a substitute for an appeal or revision and that a litigant has no licence to make reckless allegations against a judicial officer’s personal integrity. Port Blair: The Calcutta High Court on […]
A Supreme Court advocate has written to the Attorney General for India seeking his consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging wilful disobedience of Supreme Court judgments on the functioning of the Election Commission. The request, based on a news report of internal objections by two Election Commissioners, remains at the consent stage; no contempt case has been filed, the allegations are untested, and the ECI has denied any rift.
A Maharashtra Magistrate has issued a show-cause contempt notice to the Divisional Railway Manager, Nanded Division, over the failure to replace bed-bug-infested sofas in the VIP room at the Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar railway station and to carry out pest control, despite an earlier direction. The Judge noted that High Court judges who wait in the room had been sitting in their cars instead, and directed the officer to appear in person on September 30.
P. S. Raman declined consent to initiate criminal contempt proceedings against retired D. Hariparanthaman over remarks on sitting judge G. R. Swaminathan. Under Section 15 of the Contempt of Courts Act, Advocate General approval is mandatory for private criminal contempt petitions before High Courts.
The Gujarat High Court initiated contempt proceedings after a man, Abdul Samad, appeared in a virtual hearing while on a toilet, creating a viral video that raised public concern about courtroom decorum. The court condemned this behavior, ordered the video’s deletion, and seeks to prevent similar incidents in future livestreams.
