Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
2. Definitions
In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires-
(a) "contempt of court" means civil contempt or
criminal contempt;
(b) "civil contempt" means willful disobedience to any
judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a court or willful
breach of an undertaking given to a court;
(c) "criminal contempt" means the publication (whether
by words, spoken or written, or by signs, or by visible representation, or
otherwise) of any matter or the doing of any other act whatsoever which-
(i) scandalizes, or tends to scandalize, or
lowers or tends to lower the authority of, any court; or
(ii) prejudices, or interferes or tends to
interfere with, the due course of any judicial proceeding; or
(iii) interferes or tends to interfere with,
or obstructs or tends to obstruct, the administration of justice in any other
manner;
(d) "High Court" means the High Court for a State or a
Union territory, and includes the court of the Judicial Commissioner in any
Union territory.