MORALITY OF ARREST AND DETENTION IN CIVIL PRISONS AS A MODE OF EXECUTING A DECREE

Author – Chetan R, Student of National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

BEST CITATION – Chetan R, MORALITY OF ARREST AND DETENTION IN CIVIL PRISONS AS A MODE OF EXECUTING A DECREE, INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW (IJLR), 3 (1) OF 2023, PG. 715-722, ISSN – 2583-2344.

Abstract

All civil suits in India end with being brought to the execution court for being executed by the judgement-creditor. Among the many forms of executing the degree, the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 also provides for arrest and detention in civil prison among the execution proceedings for civil suits. This does not exist as a mode of executing the degree. Rather, arrest and detention under the Civil Procedure Code, 1908 merely acts as a tool at the hands of the judgement-creditor, of coercing the judgement-debtor to execute the degree if certain conditions mentioned in the law are met. The existence of this form of depriving person liberty by a civil court deciding on preponderance of probabilities has been a contentious and highly debated issue for it raises several questions of life and liberty under Article 21 and human rights under international conventions. This article will be venturing into this debate and will be arguing that the current form of arrest and detention existing in the Civil Procedure Code, 1908, is a flagrant violation of the right to life and liberty under Article 21 of the Constitution. It then proceeds to suggest alternatives to the current regime wherein arrest and detention can be done through appropriate procedures and standards of evidence.