I find it hard to believe that the Court would hold those who critized the incident in contempt
Let me explain the facts in detail, so that there won't be any difficulty in believing what I wrote. There is a criminal case pending before one of the lower courts. A news article appeared in one of our leading dailies regarding that case. As per the 'Contempt of Courts Act' in India, anything that would tend to prejudice the mankind against the judiciary will amount to contempt of court.
So a contempt petition was filed by two lawyers in the Highcourt alleging that the news article had the tendency to prejudice the mankind against the judiciary. The Highcourt which is empowered to take judicial notice of the contempt committed on its subordinate judiciary issued notice to the managing editor, editor, printer and publisher of the daily. Then the managing editor on one of the days when the case was posted appeared before the court on a stretcher. The court took the stand that it had already exempted the managing editor from personal appearance, so he had no reason to create such a scene before the court.
The next day onwards articles started appearing in the newspaper saying that the circumstances under which the managing editor had to appear before the court on a stretcher amounted to human rights violatiion. They criticized the court also. Some of the articles went on to say that the contempt petition pending before the Highcourt is not maintainable at all. It was in these circumstances that the Highcourt proceeded against those who wrote the articles. Our firm was asked to assist the court in the matter. We have taken the stand that no contempt proceedings can be initiated. The case is still going on.
We infact want to make submissions regarding the legal position as per the US law and the English law. Though the US law is not binding on Indian Courts, it certainly has a persuasive value. That is why I enquired about the Us law.
You "find it hard to believe" when our writer lives in India, which is just south of Pakistan, and which in turn, is just south of Afghanistan ?
I know that the US law is more liberal than the Indian law. But there is absolutely no reason to compare us with countries like Pakistan or Afghanistan where there is no rule of law. Ours is a democratic country, for that matter, the largest democracy in the world with a written constitution and a healthy legal system. Comparing us with Pakistan and Afghanistan is a disgrace.