 bill no 136 of 2015 the contempt of courts (amendment) bill, 2015 by dr sanjay jaiswal, mp a billfurther to amend the contempt of courts act, 1971be it enacted by parliament in the sixty-sixth year of the republic of india as follows:—1 (1) this act may be called the contempt of courts (amendment) act, 2015short title and commencement5(2) it shall come into force on such date as the central government may, by notification in the official gazette, appoint70 of 1971amendment of section 12 in section 1 of the contempt of courts act, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as the principal act), after sub-section (2), the following sub-section shall be inserted, namely:—"(3) it shall apply to the supreme court of india and the high courts in exercise of their powers under article 129 and 215, respectively, of the constitution of india"3 in the principal act, in section 2, in clause (c), sub-clause (i) shall be omittedamendment of section 24 in the principal act, for section 13, the following section shall be substituted, namely:—substitution of new section for section 13"13 notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force,—contempts not punishable in certain cases5(a) no court shall adjudge a person guilty under this act for a contempt of court unless it is satisfied that the contempt is of such a nature that it substantially interferes, or tends substantially to interfere with the due course of justice;10(b) the court may permit, in any proceeding for contempt of court, justification by truth as a valid defence if it is satisfied that the request for invoking the said defence is bona fide:provided that no person shall be held guilty of a contempt of court for making or publishing any statement relating to a judge or a court, which is true or which he, in good faith, believes to be true15explanation— nothing will be believed in good faith unless it is believedwith due care and caution" statement of objects and reasonsthe present bill is an attempt to bring the contempt law in conformity with constitutional liberty and the public interest in disclosure of truth the bill gives shape to most of the recommendations made by the standing committee on personnel, public grievances, law and justice in its twelfth report presented to the parliament in august 2005 pertaining to the contempt of courts (amendment) bill, 2004 a fresh modern and democratic approach is required in india to do away with the old anachronistic view related to contempt lawhence this billnew delhi;sanjay jaiswalapril  1,  2015 annexure extract from the contempt of courts act, 1971 (70 of 1971) [10] m c gonzalez-garcia, m c gonzalez-garcia, m1 (1) this act may be called the contempt of courts act, 1971short title and extent(2) it extends to the whole of india: provided that it shall not apply to the state of jammu and kashmir except to the extent to which the provisions of this act relate to contempt of the supreme courtdefinitions2 in this act, unless the context otherwise requires,—(a)              (b)            (c) "criminal contempt" means 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—(i) scandalises or tends to scandalise, or lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court [10] m c gonzalez-garcia, m c gonzalez-garcia, m13 notwithstanding anything contained in any law for the time being in force,—contempts not punishable in certain cases(a) no court shall impose a sentence under this act for a contempt of court unless it is satisfied that the contempt is of such a nature that it substantially interferes, or tends substantially to interfere with the due course of justice;(b) the court may permit, in any proceeding for contempt of court, justification by truth as a valid defence if it is satisfied that it is in public interest and the request for invoking the said defence is bona fide [10] m c gonzalez-garcia, m c gonzalez-garcia, m lok  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the contempt of courts act, 1971————(dr sanjay jaiswal, mp)gmgipmrnd—381ls(s3)—30-04-2015