The recent incident in which an advocate hurled an object toward the Chief Justice of India inside the Supreme Court is not a mere act of indiscipline — it is an assault on the dignity of an institution that anchors India’s constitutional democracy. When the sanctum of justice is disturbed, it strikes at the heart of public faith in the rule of law.

The Constitutional Mandate

Articles 129 and 142 of the Constitution empower the Supreme Court to punish for contempt and to ensure complete justice. These powers are not personal privileges of judges; they exist to preserve the authority and integrity of the judicial process. The Court’s dignity is intertwined with citizens’ trust, and any act that erodes that trust weakens democracy itself.

As the Supreme Court observed in In Re: Arundhati Roy (2002), “the foundation of the judiciary rests on the confidence of the people, and anything which shakes that confidence must be prevented.”

Law of Contempt and the Limits of........

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