Contempt of Court

In a contempt case pending before one of our High Courts (in India), alleged contemnor appeared before Court in a stretcher since he was bedridden due to an accident. There is dispute as to whether he was earlier exempted from personal appearance or not. Anyway, many including retired High Court Judges and Supreme Court judges criticized the incident as violation of Human rights. High Court maintains the stand that it earlier exempted the alleged contemnor from personal appearance. Now the Court has decided to proceed against all those who criticized the incident.
My doubt is - since the criticism was not against the issue directly involved in the pending contempt petition, but against the human rights violation which occurred during consideration of the petition, will there be any contempt? What is the position under the US law?

I find it hard to believe that the Court would hold those who critized the incident in contempt.

HomeGuru said:

I find it hard to believe that the Court would hold those who critized the incident in contempt.

Click to expand...

My response:

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 ?

In these Third World countries, I don't find anything that they do to be "hard to believe".

It is with these countries in mind that I believe Gene Roddenberry came up with the "Prime Directive" in his Star Trek stories. These countries have not yet evolved to the point where they are able to handle or control the justice, and the weaponry, and everything else they now have, to use these commodities properly. Someone "gave" them these things far sooner than they should have had them. They have not "evolved" enough at all.

It's like giving Prehistoric Man a machine gun. Any country where the vast majority of people still use oxen, camels, or donkeys as their primary mode of transportation and burden, have not evolved.

So, in summary, I do not find our writer's story to be incredible or "hard to believe" at all.

In fact, it's expected.

IAAL

IAAL, my response was based under the position of US law as the writer so requested in the last sentence of the post.
As you know I do not respond to posts that do not deal in US law.

Happy past Ramadan.

I AM ALWAYS LIABLE said:

My response:

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 ?

Click to expand...

and which is south of Russia, which is south of Northpole, which is north of Canada, and which is just north of 'you -know-what'

In these Third World countries, I don't find anything that they do to be "hard to believe".
It is with......

Click to expand...

and more blah blah

They have not "evolved" enough at all.

It's like giving Prehistoric Man a machine gun. Any country where the vast majority of people still use oxen, camels, or donkeys as their primary mode of transportation and burden, have not evolved.

So, in summary, I do not find our writer's story to be incredible or "hard to believe" at all.

Click to expand...

Everyone has a right to be stupid, you are abusing the privilege.

In fact, it's expected.

Click to expand...

ditto

I find it hard to believe that the Court would hold those who critized the incident in contempt

Click to expand...

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 ?

Click to expand...

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.