Civil contempt necessitates willful disobedience of court orders; mere non-compliance is insufficient unless clear intent to defy exists.

JUDGMENT

Subramonium Prasad, J. The instant contempt petition has been filed for wilful disobedience of the Order dated 09.11.2021 passed by the learned Principal Judge, Family Court (South-East), Saket Courts, New Delhi, in G.P. No.16/2021.

2. Facts, in brief, leading to the instant contempt petition are as follows:

a) It is stated that on 04.12.2018, the Petitioner/wife and the Respondent No.1/husband underwent matrimonial ceremony in Taiwan and a male child was born to them.

b) It was alleged that Respondent No.1/husband committed grave acts of mental, sexual, emotional, economic & physical abuse against the Petitioner/wife. It is stated that in June 2020, Respondent No.1/husband moved the Petitioner/wife and the minor child to a rented flat at C-99, Defence Colony, New Delhi. Respondents No.2 & 3 are the owners/land-lords of the said tenanted premises.

c) Consequently, the Petitioner filed a petition under the Guardians and Wards Act, 1890, and an application under Sections 18(1)(e) read with Sections 23 & 26 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (hereinafter referred to as `the DV Act').

d) Vide Order dated 09.11.2021, the learned Principal Judge, Family Court (South-East), Saket Courts, New Delhi, in G.P. No.16/2021, directed as under:

"Regarding the maintenance which has been claimed by the Petitioner, it is an admitted fact that the rent of the serviced apartment along with all the amenities and bills are being provided by the Respondent till date to the Petitioner. Therefore, in addition to the facilities which have been provided to the Petitioner by the Respondent and which he will continue to provide, he will also provide to the petitioner a monthly maintenance of Rs.1,00,000/- to the Petitioner and Rs.1,00,000/- per month for the minor son from the date of filing of application till the decision of case on merits"

e) It is stated that since the rendering of the Order dated 09.11.2021, Respondent No.1 has been consistently flouting the directions and has refused to provide an alternate accommodation to the Petitioner and the minor child. The Petitioner has alleged that the Respondent No.1/husband in collusion with Respondents No.2 & 3 have repeatedly attempted to evict the Petitioner and the minor child from the tenanted premises.

f) It is stated that the Petitioner had filed an appeal before this Court, being MAT Appeal (F.C.) No.2/2022 against the Order dated 09.11.2021 wherein this Court vide Order dated 06.01.2022 had recorded Respondent No.1's statement that "the Respondent is complying in letter and spirit with the impugned order and shall continue to pay the amounts due as per the same."

g) It is stated that despite the Order of the learned Family Court as well as the Order of this Court, the Respondent No.1 is wilfully breaching the directions given by the learned Family Court and has, therefore, committed contempt of Court.

h) Aggrieved by the same, the Petitioner has approached this Court by filing the instant petition.

3. Ms. Geeta Luthra, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Petitioner, at the outset, has addressed the aspect of the maintainability of the instant contempt petition. She submits that contempt jurisdiction can be invoked in every case where the conduct of the contemnor is such that it would interfere with the due course of justice. She further submits that merely because an order or decree, of which contempt has been alleged, is executable under law, that would not mean that the jurisdicti