Imprisonment in cheque dishonour case unconstitutional: HC

The High Court on Sunday observed that sending anyone to jail in cheque dishonour case is contrary to the Article 32 of the Constitution.
In a 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 amounts to deprivation of personal liberty.
The High Court bench of Justice Md Ashraful Kamal made the observation in a verdict after hearing some criminal petitions filed in this regard.
The judge has suggested the National Parliament to amend Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 for abolishing the provision of jail in cheque dishonour cases. Apart from this, the court has issued a guideline to follow for the settlement of dishonour cases until the amendment made to the Section 138 of the Negotiable Instruments Act.
The High Court observed in the judgment that sending a person to jail or keep 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 a cheque dishonour case.
The court took the example of the developed world and said that in various countries including Singapore, France, England, Australia, there is no provision of sending anyone to jail in cheque dishonour cases. In these countries, check dishonour cases are considered civil in nature.
The court observed that "no person can be imprisoned for failure to fulfil contractual obligations. Most of the people in Bangladesh will soon be in jail if they are sent to jail for failure to fulfil the contractual obligations. No one wants it."

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