Legal Provisions of Section 421 of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (Cr.P.C.), India.
The section provides two modes of realising the amount of fine when a sentence of fine is imposed by the Court by way of punishment. First, the Court may issue a warrant for the levy of the amount of fine by ordering attachment of movable property of the accused person. Obviously, this does not include actionable claims, debts, undivided share in joint property etc. Future salary not being tangible -corporeal property is not attachable, even for the realisation of the maintenance amount under Section 125, Cr.P.C.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The second mode of recovery of fine is by issuing a warrant to the District Collector authorising him to realise the amount of fine as arrears of land revenue from the movable or immovable property or both, of the defaulter offender.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate does not have power to order sale of the property of the offender under this section. Instead, he should use a warrant to the Collector of the District to realise the amount as arrears of land revenue.
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Sub-section (1) contemplates that in general an offender ought not to be required both to pay fine and to serve the sentence in default. But as per the proviso of this sub-section, a warrant may be issued for recovery of the fine even if the whole sentence in default has been served, where the Court considers that there are special reasons for doing so.
Particularly, when the Court has ordered payment of expenses or compensation out of the amount of fine, the accused may tend to deprive the aggrieved party of this payment by undergoing the sentence of imprisonment in default of payment of fine. Therefore, the proviso does not impose an absolute bar to the issue of a warrant for levy of the fine even in cases where the offender has undergone whole sentence of imprisonment in default of payment of fine.