Meaning of contempt

Jethmalani started his arguments by saying "Out of sheer respect for my friend, I am paying him a compliment for being a great scholar of companies law, tax law and the Constitution," he said referring to Sebi lawyer Arvind Datar. Even as everyone including Datar was looking at him with amusement, came the punchline, "All this work and labour has kept him too busy to understand the law of contempt." As everyone laughed, Justice J S Khehar put things in perspective, "This is what you call a left handed compliment."