Contempt of Courts Act, 1971
Section 20: Limitation for actions for contempt
No court shall initiate any proceedings of contempt, either on its own motion or otherwise, after the expiry of a period of one year from the date on which the contempt is alleged to have been committed.
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 20
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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…
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S. Tirupathi Rao v. M. Lingamaiah & Ors.
1. Whether the High Court has, in the impugned judgment, exercised the jurisdiction of review in accordance with the parameters set out in Order XLVII Rule 1 of the Civil Procedure? 2. Whether the High Court has, in the…
- Balwantbhai Somabhai Bhandari v. Hiralal
- Mahipal Singh Rana, Advocate v. State of Uttar Pradesh
- Maheshwar Peri & Others v. High Court of Judicature at Allahabad Through Registrar General
- Sanjiv Rajendra Bhatt v. Union of India & Ors.
- The Board of Trustees of the Port of Mumbai v. Nikhiln. Gupta & Anr.
- Dr. Subramanian Swamy v. Arun Shourie
- Ashok Kumar Aggarwal v. Neeraj Kumar & Anr.
- Bank of Baroda v. Sadruddin Hasan Daya and Anr.
- Pallav Sheth v. Custodian and Ors.
- Om Prakash Jaiswal v. D.K.Miital and Anr.
- T.Deen Dayal v. The High Court of Andhra Pradesh