Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
Section 18: Hearing of cases of criminal contempt to be by Benches
(1) Every case of criminal contempt under section 15 shall be heard and determined by a Bench of not less than two judges.
(2) Sub-section (1) shall not apply to the Court of a Judicial Commissioner.
Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 15 October 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.
Supreme Court judgments citing the section 18
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Shanmugam @ Lakshminarayanan v. High Court of Madras
Whether the charge of criminal contempt is proved against the appellants-contemnors beyond all reasonable doubt; whether the conviction of the appellants by the High Court for criminal contempt of Court and the sentence…
- Court on Its Own Motion v. Pradeep Aggarwal
- Court on Its Own Motion v. Vicky Aggarwal and Ors
- Dinesh Kumar Gupta v. United India Insurance Co. Ltd. and Ors.