Roy shot to fame after winning the prestigious Booker award in 1997 for her debut novel The God of Small Things.

The contempt charges have arisen out of her high-profile involvement in a campaign to halt the construction of a controversial dam in the Narmada river valley in Madhya Pradesh.

In October, 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the dam construction could go ahead, and Roy was served with contempt charges after she took part in a protest against the ruling outside the gates of court the following month.

The charges were thrown out for being "grossly defective" but, in a bizarre twist, Roy was then served with a second contempt notice relating to statements she made in an affidavit defending herself against the first charge.

The affidavit had criticised the "disquieting inclination" of the Supreme Court to "silence criticism and muzzle dissent".

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