Contempt of Courts Act, 1971

The Trust obtained a decree for possession of premises occupied by the Society, but the High Court stayed execution pending the Society's appeal and imposed a conditional stay requiring deposits and a status‑quo. The Society later let out the premises for exhibitions, violating the stay conditions, leading the Trust to…

Prakash Kumar Dixit was removed from service in 1995; the Delhi High Court set aside the removal, imposed a minor penalty and ordered his reinstatement with backdated seniority, but the order was not implemented timely and he was denied promotion to IG before retirement. He initiated contempt proceedings, and a Single …

The Supreme Court examined the Delhi Development Authority's (DDA) unauthorised felling of over a thousand trees in the Delhi Ridge and its failure to disclose this during a hearing, despite pending applications for permission. The Court held that these actions amounted to wilful disobedience of its 1996 order in M.C. …

The Supreme Court considered a contempt petition filed by JSW Steel Ltd., which had become the successful resolution applicant for the insolvent Monnet Ispat and Energy Ltd. After the National Company Law Tribunal approved the resolution plan, the State of Chhattisgarh issued demand notices for sales tax, VAT and entry…

The appellants, shareholders of RBT Private Ltd., filed a contempt petition alleging that the respondent, a fellow shareholder, willfully violated court and arbitral orders by removing assets and failing to pay loan EMIs. A Single Judge of the Delhi High Court on 5 December 2023 held the respondent guilty of contempt a…

The petitioner N. Eswaranathan, convicted of several offences, filed a first Special Leave Petition (SLP) which was dismissed by the Supreme Court with an order to surrender. He subsequently filed a second SLP on the same grounds, with the same Advocate-on-Record (AOR) P. Soma Sundaram and counsel S. Muthukrishnan fili…

Vineeta Srinandan, a former director of Seawoods Estates Ltd., issued a circular alleging a "dog mafia" influencing judges, which the Bombay High Court held to be criminal contempt under Section 2(c) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 and sentenced her to one week imprisonment and a fine. She promptly filed a reply af…

The appellant, a Tehsildar, was ordered by the Andhra Pradesh High Court to consider representations for regularising houses on government land and to maintain the status quo pending a decision. Despite the orders, he led a police force to demolish structures and evict families, beating women and children. The High Cou…

The Wikimedia Foundation, as a defendant in a defamation suit filed by ANI Media, appealed a High Court order directing it to delete Wikipedia pages and discussion threads that commented on the court's proceedings, alleging that the order violated its freedom of speech and the sub judice principle. The High Court had h…

The appellants, originally defendants in a suit concerning a Joint Development Agreement, gave an undertaking through their counsel in 2007 not to alienate the subject property, which the trial court later incorporated into a court order. In 2011 the plaintiffs filed an application under Order XXXIX Rule 2A alleging br…

The Allahabad High Court, hearing a writ petition filed by the Association of Retired Supreme Court and High Court Judges, directed the Uttar Pradesh Government to notify rules framed by the Chief Justice concerning domestic help and other post‑retirement benefits for former judges, and later held a recall application …

The Supreme Court examined a criminal contempt case where three appellants were accused of forging and using bogus interim orders of the Madras High Court to obstruct the execution of a decree. The High Court had convicted them of contempt and sentenced each to six months’ imprisonment, based on investigations by the C…