( 1. ) PREAMBLE : I. Nature of Court proceedings : An "open court" means a court to which the public have a right to be admitted. This term may mean either a court which has been formally convened and declared open for the transaction of its proper judicial business, or a court which is freely open to spectators. - Black's Law Dictionary (6th Edn., 1990, p. 1091)

( 2. ) IN my considered view an "open court" is a court to which general public has a right to be admitted and access to the court is granted to all the persons desirous of entering the court to observe the conduct of the judicial proceedings....." -Dr. Justice M. K. Sharma in Mohd. Shahabuddin v. State of Bihar (2010) 4 SCC 653 : (2010 AIR SCW 3211). II. What is Contempt:

Section 2 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 reads as follows :

2. Definitions.- In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a) "contempt of Court" means civil contempt or criminal contempt; (b) "civil contempt" means wilful disobedience to any judgment, decree, direction, order, writ or other process of a Court or wilful breach of an undertaking given to a Court; (c) "criminal contempt" means the publication (whether by words, spoken