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TMI Blog1943 (7) TMI 8X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lying on the accuracy of his informant, were interpreted as implying any malicious intention on his part or intended to bring the court or any member of it into disrepute. Their Lordships, for reasons which will appear, do not find it necessary to enumerate the facts alleged in Mr. Gandhi's affidavit. In substance, they were that Mr. Singhal had been present in the court of Mr. Vidyarthi on July 31 when he gave judgment in the murder case, and that after sentencing the four accused to transportation for life the judge made the following statement in open court: Since the Chief Justice, who has been requested by His Excellency the Governor to help in the war effort, has asked us to raise subscriptions for the war fund, it is incumbent on ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... court; and, in the absence of an apology, for which we give time until the day after to-morrow, it shall be our duty to pass sentence according to law. There then followed a series of transactions on which the appellants, in support of their case, proposed strongly to rely, but which their Lordships find in unnecessary to discuss in view of their opinion on the question whether the appellants were guilty of any contempt of court on which they ought to have been convicted. The Chief Justice, before the day reserved for judgment arrived, had with Collister J. interviewed Mr. Vidyarthi and gave notice to the appellants on September 11 that as he had asserted that most of the allegations in Mr. Gandhi's affidavit were untrue, the court prop ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... a suggestion or an easy inference from the facts. The Chief Justice then stated that in the opinion of the court the charge of contempt was established against all three respondents. He proceeded to state what impression, in the opinion of the court, an ordinary intelligent reader would receive from reading the editorial comment of August 6. The comment contains a clear insinuation that the Chief Justice had issued a circular to all judicial officers to raise contributions from litigants and others to the War Fund, that pressure was thereby being exerted by an authority which it would not be safe to displease,' and that the prestige of the courts would thus be impaired. The implication is that the Chief Justice had done something which ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... one way or the other on them. In their Lordships' opinion, the conviction for contempt of court cannot stand. The cases of contempt which consist of scandalizing the court itself are fortunately rare, and require to be treated with much, discretion. In 1899 this Board pronounced proceedings for this species of contempt to be obsolete in this country, though surviving in other parts of the Empire, but they added that it is a weapon to be used sparingly and always with reference to the administration of justice: McLeod v. St. Aubyn [1899] A.C. 549. In In re a Special Reference from the Bahama Islands [1893] A.C. 138 the test applied by the very strong Board which heard the reference was whether the words complained of were in the circums ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ct in writing to his subordinate judges asking (as the news item says), enjoining (as the comment says) them to collect for the War Fund. If the facts were as alleged they admitted of criticism. No doubt it is galling for any judicial personage to be criticized publicly as having done something outside his judicial proceedings which was ill-advised or indiscreet. But judicial personages can afford not to be too sensitive. A simple denial in public of the alleged request would at once have allayed the trouble. If a judge is defamed in such a way as not to affect the administration of justice he has the ordinary remedies for defamation if he should feel impelled to use them. Their Lordships cannot accept the view taken by the court as stated ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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