A judgment-debtor may be arrested in execution of a decree at any hour on any day and shall, as soon as practicable, be brought before the court, except that:
(1) For the purpose of making an arrest on dwelling-house shall be after sunset and before sunrise;
(2) No outer door of a dwelling-house shall be broken open unless such dwelling is in the occupancy of the judgment-debtor and he refuses or in any way prevents access thereto;
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ADVERTISEMENTS:
(3) If the room is in the actual occupancy of a woman who is not the judgment-debtor and who, according to the customs of the country, does not appear in public, the officer authorized to make the arrest shall give notice to her that she is at liberty to withdraw and allow her a reasonable opportunity to withdraw there from before entering the room for the purpose of making the arrest;
(4) If the decree is for the payment of money, the judgment-debtor shall at once be released if he pays the full decretal amount and the costs of the arrest to the officer arresting him.
In the application for the execution of the decree for the payment of money by the arrest of the judgment-debtor the court has a discretion to issue a notice in place of a warrant calling upon to show cause why he should not be committed to civil prison unless with the object of delaying the execution of the decree he is likely to abscond or leave the local limits of the jurisdiction of the court. If he does not appear in obedience to the notice the warrant may be issued.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
When the judgment-debtor appears, the court shall proceed to hear the decree-holder and take all such evidence as may be produced by him in support of his application, and shall give the judgment-debtor an opportunity of showing cause why he should not be committed to civil prison.
Where a judgment-debtor is arrested in execution of a decree for the payment of money and brought before the court, the court shall inform him that he may apply to be declared an insolvent and, on expressing his intention to apply for insolvency and furnishing security to the satisfaction of the court that he will within one month so apply and that he will appear, when called upon, in the insolvency court or the execution court, the court may release him from arrest. (S. 55).
A woman shall not be arrested in execution of a decree for the payment of money. (S. 55).
The State Government may fix scales, graduated according to rank, race and nationally, of monthly allowances payable for the subsistence of judgment-debtors. (S. 57).
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The period of detention in the civil prison in execution of a decree shall not exceed three months where the decree is for the payment of a sum of money exceeding Rs. 1,000/- and shall not exceed six weeks where the decree is for the payment of a sum money exceeding Rs. 500/- but not exceeding Rs. 1,000/-. But he shall be released earlier:
(a) On the amount mentioned in the warrant for his detention being paid to the officer-in-charge of the civil prison, or
(b) On the decree against him being otherwise fully satisfied, or (c) on the request of the decree-holder, or
(d) On the omission of the decree-holder to pay the subsistence allowance; but he shall not be released from such detention under cl. (b) or cl. (c), without the order of the court. No order for detention of the judgment-debtor in civil prison in execution of a decree for the payment of money shall be made where the total amount of the decree does not exceed Rs. 500/-. (S. 58).
A judgment-debtor so released from detention shall not merely by reason of his release be discharged from his debt, but he shall not be liable to be re-arrested under the decree in execution of which he was detained in the civil prison.
The court may at any time cancel a warrant of arrest against the judgment-debtor on the ground of his serious illness or release him where he has been arrested. The State Government may also release him on the ground of the existence of any infections or contagious disease, but in case of release on the ground of illness he is liable to re-arrest. (S. 59).