The Supreme Court on Wednesday convicted Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy on charges of
contempt of court and sentenced her to one-day "symbolic imprisonment" and a fine of Rs 2000.
The bench comprising Justice G B Pattanaik and Justice R P Sethi said Arundhati Roy "is found to have committed criminal contempt of court by scandalising it and lowering its
dignity through her statements made in her affidavit."
The court while convicting her said, in case of non-payment of the fine of Rs 2,000, she will have to undergo an imprisonment of three months.
The court had issued suo motu contempt notice to Roy taking exception to a few paragrahphs in an affidavit filed by her in reply to a petition seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against her for allegedly raising slogans against the apex court
during a demonstration held at its gate in December 2000.
The court had discharged Roy from the proceedings in that petition but issued notice to her on the basis of some of the paragraphs of her reply affidavit, which it found "prima facie" to be contemptuous.
The court had reserved its verdict on January 15.
Referring to the proceedings prior to reserving of the verdict, the court said "Arundhati Roy has not shown any remorse or repentance over the contemptuous remarks and hence no lenient view can be taken in this case."
Justice Sethi, writing the judgement for the bench, however, said the court is magnanimous and hoped that better sense would prevail on Roy to serve the cause of art and literature from which path she has wavered by making these statements against the
dignity of the court.
Freedom of speech did not give any licence to any person to scandalise the court and lower its dignity and if such things were allowed, common man's faith in the judiciary, which is an important pillar of democracy, would be eroded.
