'Contempt of Court' case against Arundhati Roy
On March 6th, 2002, the Supreme Court issued its judgement on the case of criminal contempt of court by Arundhati Roy. On this page, we've provided some background on the issue, appeals for action issued before March 6th, analysis of the issue, and media coverage of the same.
- Statement by Arundhati Roy; March 7, 2002
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Arundhati Roy Sentenced to One Day's Imprisonment and Fine;
Court Says Guilty of Scandalizing Authority With Malafide Intentions
Outpouring of Support from all Over; Press Release by Free Speech Campaign; March 6, 2002
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Supreme Court Judgement on the contempt case;
March 6, 2002
Appeal for action and background of the case:
- An appeal by Prashant Bhushan, Anurag Singh, Jharana Jhaveri, Sanjay Kak, and Himanshu Thakkar
- Arundhati Roy & Criminal Contempt of the Supreme Court of India
- Courts, Contempt & a Climate That Demands Accountability; Prashant Bhushan
The document titled Arundhati Roy & Criminal Contempt of the Supreme Court of India provides a good background of the contempt case: the events that led to the filing of the first criminal contempt case against Prashant Bhushan, Medha Patkar, and Arundhati Roy; the subsequent dropping of charges against Prashant Bhushan and Medha Patkar; and the filing of a second criminal contempt case against Arundhati Roy.
- Affidavit filed by Prashant Bhushan in response to the first criminal contempt case
- Affidavit filed by Medha Patkar in response to the first criminal contempt case
- Affidavit filed by Arundhati Roy in response to the first criminal contempt case. This affidavit was also published as an article in Outlook. The Supreme Court took offense with this affidavit and brought a fresh (second) contempt of court case against Arundhati Roy.
- Second Contempt of Court Notice issued to Arundhati Roy; September 5, 2001
- Affidavit filed by Arundhati Roy in response to the second criminal contempt case; October 15, 2001
- News reports and opinion pieces about both these criminal contempt cases
However, this is not the first time that the Supreme Court acted in this manner. Earlier in 1999, it took offense with Arundhati Roy's essay The Greater Common Good and also with the statements of the NBA and deliberated for a while whether to charge them with a contempt of court. This issue is covered in the documents listed here: