HC verdict on cheque dishonour case stayed

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a High Court (HC) verdict, which earlier ruled that sending anyone to jail in cheque-dishonour cases is contrary to the Article 32 of the Constitution.
Justice M Enayetur Rahim, Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division, passed the order after hearing a petition filed by the state seeking stay on the HC verdict.
Attorney General AM Amin Uddin appeared in the hearing on behalf of the state.
In the hearing, the attorney general said, "Arresting anyone under Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act in cheque dishonour cases was declared illegal by the High Court. However, the HC cannot declare a provision of a law unconstitutional without any judicial review under Article 102 of the Constitution. In this case, HC declared the provision unconstitutional following some criminal petitions which is not correct."
After hearing, the chamber judge stayed the verdict till November 14 this year. The court also asked the state to file a leave to appeal petition against the verdict by this time, said Assistant Attorney General Saiful Alam, who was also present during the hearing.
Following some criminal petitions, the HC bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal on August 28 this year ruled that sending anyone to jail in cheque dishonour cases is contrary to the Article 32 of the Constitution.
In the verdict, the court also observed that depriving a person of his personal freedom is unconstitutional, and imprisonment of a person in a cheque dishonour case under the Negotiable Instruments Act (NI Act) amounts to deprivation of personal liberty.
The judge also suggested that the parliament amend Section 138 of the NI Act, 1881, for abolishing the provision of jail in cheque dishonour cases. Apart from this, the court issued a guideline to follow for the settlement of dishonour cases until the amendment of the Section 138 of the NI Act.
The High Court observed in the judgment that sending a person to jail or keeping anyone in jail in a cheque dishonour case is a violation of Article 32 of the Constitution and Article 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. As a signatory country of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Bangladesh cannot send a person to jail in such cases.
The court took the example of the developed world and said that in various countries, including Singapore, France and Australia, there is no provision of sending anyone to jail in cheque dishonour cases.

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