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Friday, 13 November 2026 Judgments, law jobs and study notes, written by a practising advocate
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 · Part II: Execution

Section 58 CPC: Detention and release

Bare Act text

58. Detention and release.—(1) Every person detained in the civil prison in execution of a decree shall be so detained,—

(a) where the decree is for the payment of a sum of money exceeding [ [five thousand rupees], for a period not exceeding three months, and,]

[(b) where the decree is for the payment of a sum of money exceeding two thousand rupees, but not exceeding five thousand rupees, for a period not exceeding six weeks:]

Provided that he shall be released from such detention before the expiration of the [said period of detention] —

(i) on the amount mentioned in the warrant for his detention being paid to the officer in charge of the civil prison, or

(ii) on the decree against him being otherwise fully satisfied, or

(iii) on the request of the person on whose application he has been so detained, or

(iv) on the omission by the person, on whose application he has been so detained, to pay subsistence allowance:

Provided, also, that he shall not be released from such detention under clause (ii) or clause (iii), without the order of the Court.

[(1A) For the removal of doubts, it is hereby declared that 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 [two thousand rupees.]]

(2) A judgment-debtor released from detention under this section 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.

Amendment notes

  1. Subs. by Act 104 of 1976, s. 22, for certain words (w.e.f. 1-2-1977).
  2. Subs. by Act 46 of 1999, s. 5, “one thousand rupees” (w.e.f. 1-7-2002).
  3. Subs. by s. 5, ibid., for clause (b) (w.e.f. 1-7-2002).
  4. Subs. by Act 104 of 1976, s. 22, for certain words (w.e.f. 1-2-1977).
  5. Ins. by s. 22, ibid. (w.e.f. 1-2-1977).
  6. Subs. by Act 46 of 1999, s. 5, for “five hundred rupees” (w.e.f. 1-7-2002).

Text of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Act No. 5 of 1908), as amended, including the changes for commercial disputes made by the Commercial Courts Act, 2015. Source: India Code, Government of India.

In simple words

A person detained in civil prison in execution of a money decree is detained for up to three months where the sum exceeds five thousand rupees, and up to six weeks where it exceeds two thousand but does not exceed five thousand rupees. The provisos require release earlier if the amount in the warrant is paid, the decree is otherwise fully satisfied, the decree-holder asks for release, or the decree-holder omits to pay subsistence allowance. The 1976 and 1999 amendments revised these limits.

Part II: Execution

  1. 36 Application to orders
  2. 37 Definition of Court which passed a decree
  3. 38 Court by which decree may be executed
  4. 39 Transfer of decree
  5. 40 Transfer of decree to Court in another State
  6. 41 Result of execution proceedings to be certified
  7. 42 Powers of Court in executing transferred decree
  8. 43 Execution of decrees passed by Civil Courts in places to which this Code does not extend
  9. 44 Execution of decrees passed by Revenue Courts in places to which this Code does not extend
  10. 44A Execution of decrees passed by Courts in reciprocating territory
  11. 45 Execution of decrees outside India
  12. 46 Precepts
  13. 47 Questions to be determined by the Court executing decree
  14. 48 Execution barred in certain cases (Repealed)
  15. 49 Transferee
  16. 50 Legal representative
  17. 51 Powers of Court to enforce execution
  18. 52 Enforcement of decree against legal representative
  19. 53 Liability of ancestral property
  20. 54 Partition of estate or separation of share
  21. 55 Arrest and detention
  22. 56 Prohibition of arrest or detention of women in execution of decree for money
  23. 57 Subsistence-allowance
  24. 58 Detention and release
  25. 59 Release on ground of illness
  26. 60 Property liable to attachment and sale in execution of decree
  27. 61 Partial exemption of agricultural produce
  28. 62 Seizure of property in dwelling-house
  29. 63 Property attached in execution of decrees of several Courts
  30. 64 Private alienation of property after attachment to be void
  31. 65 Purchaser’s title
  32. 66 Suit against purchaser not maintainable on ground of purchase being on behalf of plaintiff (Repealed)
  33. 67 Power for State Government to make rules as to sales of land in execution of decrees for payment of money
  34. 68 Power to prescribe rules for transferring to collector execution of certain decrees (Repealed)
  35. 69 Provisions of Third Schedule to apply (Repealed)
  36. 70 Rules of Procedure (Repealed)
  37. 71 Collector deemed to be acting judicially (Repealed)
  38. 72 Where Court may authorize Collector to stay Public Sale of Land (Repealed)
  39. 73 Proceeds of execution-sale to be rateably distributed among decree-holders
  40. 74 Resistance to execution
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