2. Definitions .-In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires, -
(a)“contempt of court ” means civil contempt or criminal contempt;
(b)“civil contempt ” means wilful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or
other process of a court or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a court;
(c)“criminal contempt ” means the p ublication (whether by words, spoken or written, or by signs,
or by visible representation s, 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; 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 a dministration 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.
3. Innocent publication and distribution of matter not contempt .
(1)A person shall not be guilty
of contempt of court on the ground that he has published (whether by words, spoken or written, or by
signs, or by visible representations, or otherwise) any mat ter which interferes or tends to interfere with, or
obstructs or tends to obstruct, the course of justice in connection with any civil or criminal proceeding
pending at that time of publication, if at that time he had no reasonable grounds for believing th at the
proceeding was pending.
(2)Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Act or any other law for the time being
in force, the publication of any such matter as is mentioned in sub -section ( 1) in connection with any civil
or criminal p roceeding which is not pending at the time of publication shall not be deemed to constitute
contempt of court.
(3)A person shall not be guilty of contempt of court on the ground that he has distributed a
publication containing any such mat ter as is mentio ned in sub -section ( 1), if at the time of distribution he
had no reasonable grounds for believing that it contained or was likely to contain any such matter as
aforesaid:
Provided that this sub -section shall not apply in respect of the distribution of -
(i)any publication which is a book or paper printed or published otherwise than in conformity
with the rules contained in section 3 of the Press and Registration of Books Act, 1867 (25 of 1867);