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M.V. Jayarajan v. High Court of Kerala & Anr.

Criminal Appeal · Neutral citation not assigned (Criminal Appeal No. 2099 of 2011)Decided 30 Jan 2015
Criminal Appeal No. 2099 of 2011
Justice Vikramajit Sen · Justice C. Nagappan

Background

The Kerala High Court had banned public meetings on roads and road margins for traffic safety reasons. Days after the ban was confirmed on appeal, the appellant, a lawyer and former legislator, delivered a public speech calling the judgment "worth only grass," calling the judges abusive/pejorative names, and urging the judges to resign if they had "any self-respect." The Kerala High Court's Division Bench convicted him of criminal contempt under Section 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, sentencing him to six months' simple imprisonment plus a Rs.2,000 fine, and he appealed to the Supreme Court.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court distinguished between permissible criticism of a judgment (even strong criticism, such as calling a verdict wrong or saying "judges live in glass houses") and language that scandalizes the court or incites the public to disobey its orders. It found the appellant's use of insulting epithets and his call for the judges to resign went beyond legitimate free speech and amounted to an intentional, calculated attempt to lower the court's dignity and obstruct justice, especially since he refused to apologise and the speech was aimed at inciting a largely rural, less-literate audience against the judiciary. The Court upheld the conviction for criminal contempt as correct, but considered the circumstances sufficiently mitigating to reduce the sentence from six months to simple imprisonment for four weeks, with no costs imposed.

Lesson Learnt

Freedom of speech protects reasoned, even sharply worded, criticism of a court's judgment, but it does not extend to abusive language or calls for judges to quit: such conduct, especially when aimed at inciting public disobedience of court orders, can be punished as criminal contempt regardless of the speaker's public standing.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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