Jail term for contempt of court reduced, fine hiked to MVR100,000
The Supreme Court has hiked a fine for contempt of court from MVR10,000 (US$649) to MVR100,000 (US$6485) and authorized judges to suspend lawyers found guilty of contempt of court for up to six months. Jail term for contempt of court was reduced from six months to up to one month.
02 Feb 2016, 9:00 AM
The Supreme Court has hiked a fine for actions that constitute contempt of court from MVR10,000 (US$649) to MVR100,000 (US$6485), and authorized judges to suspend lawyers found guilty of contempt of court for up to six months.
The fine of MVR100,000 can be imposed for spoken or written words as well as deeds and gestures committed inside or outside a courtroom that portray the judiciary in a negative light, an utterance or action that demeans a court, a judge, or court officer, and for criticising or berating a court or a judge, or committing any act that causes loss of respect and dignity of a court or a judge, or attempting to bring the court into disrepute.
The amendments brought to the 2014 contempt of court regulations on Monday also removed a provision that authorised a sentence of up to six months in jail for disrupting ongoing hearings.
The six month jail sentence was authorised by the defunct 1968 penal code under a provision that criminalised “obstruction of duty.” The offence was removed from the new penal code, which came into force in July.
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