EMPEROR Vs. AMIR KHAN S/O. ABDULLA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE question here is whether Section 488, Criminal P.C. applies to a person who is adjudged insolvent after an order of maintenance has been made against him.

(2.) THE order for maintenance was passed in favour of the non-applicant's wife on 7th August 1944. The non-applicant applied to be adjudicated an insolvent on 80th January 1945 and was adjudicated on 27th July 1945, On 29th January 1945 the non-applicant divorced his wife. The question relates to the arrears which accrued meanwhile.

(3.) THERE is some difference of opinion on this point, but I agree with Allsop, J. in Shyama Charan v. Anguri Devi that insolvency in itself is not a bar. As he points out, the order passed by a Magistrate under Section 488(3), Criminal P.C., against a person, who fails to pay without sufficient cause, is a sentence of imprisonment. No part of the Provincial Insolvency Act confers immunity from arrest or detention against sentences of imprisonment passed by a Criminal Court.