Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
| Published date | 01 April 1944 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002201834400800205 |
| Date | 01 April 1944 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
CRITICISM OF A
JUDGE
AND CONTEMPT OF COURT
Debi Prasad Sharma and others v. The King-Emperor
IN
this
case
the
Privy
Council allowed
the
appeal
of
the
publisher, editor,
and
local correspondent of a
newspaper from a
judgment
of
the
High
Court of Allahabad
by
which
the
appellants were found guilty of
contempt
of
that
Court in respect of criticisms published of
the
Chief
Justice
of
the
Court.
The
Chief
Justice
was alleged,
untruly
as was admitted, to
have
committed
an
ill-advised
act
in writing
to
his subordinate judges asking (as
the
news
item
said), enjoining (as
the
editorial
comment
said)
them
to
collect for a
war
fund.
In
delivering
the
judg-
ment
of
the
Privy
Council
Lord
Atkin
said
that
if
the
facts
were as alleged
they
admitted
of criticism.
But
even
though
the
facts were
untrue
the
finding of
contempt
of
court
could
not
stand.
The
appeal was allowed
and
the
fines which
had
been imposed were ordered
to
be refunded
together
with costs.
According
to
the
judgment
of
the
Board
the
cases
of
contempt
which consists in "scandalizing
the
court
itself" are fortunately rare,
and
require
to
be
treated
with
much discretion.
When
the
contempt
in question was
examined
it
was found
that
there
was no criticism of
any
judicial
act
of
the
Chief
Justice
or
any
imputation
on
him
for
anything
done or
admitted
to
be done
by
him
in
the
administration of justice.
It
could
hardly
be said
that
there
was
any
criticism of
him
in his administrative
capacity, for so far as
their
Lordships
had
been informed,
the
administrative control of
the
subordinate courts of
the
Province, whatever
it
was, was exercised
not
by
the
Chief
Justice
but
by
the
court
over which he presided.
The
appellants were
not
charged with saying
anything
in
contempt
of
the
subordinate courts or
the
adminis-
tration
of justice
by
them.
134
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