Short answer. By filing a verified petition. Unless the court acts on its own initiative, charges for indirect contempt shall be commenced by a verified petition with supporting particulars and certified true copies of documents or papers involved, complying with all the requirements for initiatory pleadings in civil actions. A mere motion in the main case is not the prescribed route.
What the law says
charges for indirect contempt shall be commenced by a verified petition with supporting particulars and certified true copies of documents or papers involved therein, and upon full compliance with the requirements for filing initiatory pleadings for civil actions in the court concerned
Rule 71, Section 4 — How proceedings commenced. Read the full provision →
Two ways a contempt case begins
The rule recognises exactly two starting points. The first belongs to the court itself: proceedings may be initiated motu proprio by the court against which the contempt was committed by an order or any other formal charge requiring the respondent to show cause why he should not be punished for contempt. The second belongs to everyone else — the aggrieved litigant included: in all other cases, the charge is commenced by a verified petition. If you are the party whose hard-won order is being defied, you are in the second category, and the petition route is yours to take.
What the petition must be
Three requirements sit in the rule's text. The petition must be verified — sworn to, not merely signed. It must carry supporting particulars and certified true copies of documents or papers involved therein: the order allegedly violated, and the proof of the violation, in certified form rather than loose photocopies. And it must be filed upon full compliance with the requirements for filing initiatory pleadings for civil actions — meaning it is treated as a case-starting pleading in its own right, with everything that status entails in the court concerned. An unverified motion tucked into the main case does not satisfy a rule written in these terms.
Where it goes on the docket
Contempt charges usually grow out of a pending case — an injunction ignored, a support order defied. The rule anticipates this: if the contempt charges arose out of or are related to a principal action pending in the court, the petition for contempt shall allege that fact. Even then, the petition shall be docketed, heard and decided separately, unless the court, in its discretion, orders the consolidation of the contempt charge and the principal action for joint hearing and decision. Expect a separate docket number and a parallel proceeding — the contempt case runs alongside the main case, connected but distinct.
Preparing a petition that holds
Start from the order being violated: secure a certified true copy, and check that it is clear, in force, and was properly served on or known to the person defying it — a contempt case is only as strong as the order behind it. Then document the disobedience with dates, acts and evidence, because the petition's supporting particulars are what the respondent will be called to answer. Expect the process to respect the respondent's right to be heard; contempt is a serious charge with penal consequences, and courts move through it deliberately. A lawyer should draft the petition — the initiatory-pleading requirements are technical, and a defect there can sink the charge before the disobedience is even discussed.