High Court Ruling - Civil Detention of a guarantor

Case Name: Md. Jahirul Hoque vs. Judge, Artha Rin Adalat, Chattogram & Others,   Case Number: Writ Petition No. 6846 of 2016, Citation: 17 SCOB [2023] HCD 20

Court: High Court Division, Supreme Court of Bangladesh

Judgment Date: 09 June 2022

Subject: Civil detention of a judgment-debtor/guarantor under Section 34(1), Artha Rin Adalat Ain, 2003.

In this case, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh addressed the issue of the detention of a guarantor under a court order in accordance with Section 34. The main conclusions of the court were as follows:

1. A guarantor can be detained under Section 34 after a court decision is issued.

2. Enforcement of the decision can be carried out simultaneously against both the borrower and the guarantor.

3. The borrower's property has priority in its realization, but this does not require exhausting all funds before detaining the guarantor under Section 34.

4. Detention under Section 34 is a civil/enforcement measure, not a criminal punishment.

5. The debtor under a court order is not obliged to surrender to the authorities before appealing the detention order.

6. To file an application under Section 34, confirmation in the form of an affidavit or proper verification in accordance with Rule 15 of Order VI of the Civil Procedure Code/Rule 19 of the Civil Rules is required. A simple signature is insufficient.

In this case, the detention was quashed due to defects in the bank's application under Section 34, and not because the guarantor cannot be detained.

Judgment- Detention of the loan guarantor by Manjurul Alam Arif