Section 145 CrPC: How a Land Possession Dispute Works Before the Magistrate

In this guide: What is section 145 CrPC and when does it apply? · Section 144 vs section 145: what is the difference? · How to file a section 145 case · Evidence of possession that magistrates look for · Received a section 145 notice? What to do, including in a false case · Challenging a 145 order, and how it fits with a civil suit

The short answer

Section 145 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 lets a District Magistrate or a specially empowered Executive Magistrate settle, for the time being, who is in actual possession of disputed land when the dispute is likely to cause a breach of the peace. The magistrate does not decide ownership. After hearing both sides and their evidence, he declares the party found in possession entitled to stay until evicted by due process of law. A person forcibly thrown off within 2 months before the order can be treated as the possessor. If possession cannot be determined, the land may be attached and a receiver appointed under section 146.

What is section 145 CrPC and when does it apply?

Section 145 is a preventive provision. Its purpose is to keep the peace, not to decide property rights. A magistrate can act when he is satisfied, from a police report or other information (including a party’s petition), that a dispute over land, water or boundaries is likely to cause a breach of the peace. “Land” here includes buildings, markets, fisheries, crops, produce and rents.

The process in brief:

• The magistrate makes a written preliminary order stating the grounds, and calls both parties to file written statements of their claims to actual possession.
• The order is served like a summons and a copy is fixed on or near the land.
• He reads the statements, hears the parties, receives evidence and decides who was in actual possession on the date of the order, without deciding title.
• The two-month rule: if a party was forcibly and wrongfully dispossessed within 2 months before the order, the magistrate may treat that party as being in possession. The High Court Division has said there is no scope under section 145 to restore possession lost before that window.
• In an emergency, the land can be attached while the case is pending.

The final order declares the possessor entitled to stay until evicted in due course of law and forbids disturbance. If the magistrate cannot say who is in possession, section 146 lets him attach the land until a civil court decides, and appoint a receiver if no civil court has done so.

Section 144 vs section 145: what is the difference?

People often hear “144 jari hoyeche” and “145 mamla” used together. They are different tools:

In practice a land dispute often starts with a section 144 order to freeze the situation, and the magistrate later draws up section 145 proceedings to decide possession. Disobeying either order is an offence under section 188 of the Penal Code, punishable with up to 1 month or a fine up to Tk 200, rising to up to 6 months or a fine up to Tk 1,000 where it endangers life or safety or causes a riot.

How to file a section 145 case

1. Go to the right court. Petitions are filed before the District Magistrate’s court, usually heard by the Additional District Magistrate, or before an Executive Magistrate empowered for this work. A lawyer can tell you the practice in your district.
2. Draft the petition. Describe the land (mouza, khatian, dag, area and boundaries), how and since when you have possessed it, what the other side did, and why violence is likely. Name the opposite parties correctly.
3. Attach evidence. Copies of your deed, khatian, namjari, recent khajna receipts and photographs, and a list of witnesses.
4. Report. The magistrate usually asks the police station, and sometimes the AC (Land) or another officer, to inquire and report. Cooperate with the inquiry officer and show him the land.
5. Proceedings. If satisfied, the magistrate draws up the preliminary order and the case runs as described above.

If you have already been thrown off, act fast because of the 2-month window. You may also apply to the Executive Magistrate under section 8 of the Land Crime Prevention and Remedy Act 2023, which has its own 3-month disposal target. Our guide on recovering illegally occupied land compares the routes.

Evidence of possession that magistrates look for

Because the question is actual possession, papers showing ownership help only so far. The strongest evidence shows who uses the land day to day:

• Land development tax (khajna) receipts and namjari in your name, with recent dates.
• Proof of cultivation: who sowed and harvested, sale of crops, payments to labourers, irrigation receipts.
• Rent receipts or agreements from tenants or sharecroppers who occupy through you.
• Holding tax, electricity or water bills for buildings, and fence or boundary work.
• Dated photographs and video of the land, crops and structures.
• Neighbours and people who work the land as witnesses, with sworn statements if the court allows.
• The police or inquiry officer’s report, which carries real weight.

Weak points to avoid: relying only on an old title deed, certificates from local representatives without other proof, and witnesses who contradict each other on who is cultivating. Do not try to “create” possession by force after the case starts; it can turn you into the accused.

Received a section 145 notice? What to do, including in a false case

• Attend on the date. Engage a lawyer and appear. If you ignore the notice, the case can be decided on the other side’s evidence.
• File a written statement of your claim to possession, with documents and witnesses as above.
• Raise the legal objections that fit: there is no real threat to peace; a civil court is already dealing with possession; the parties are co-sharers of undivided inherited land, where the High Court Division has said section 145 is not the proper remedy; or the claimed dispossession is outside the 2-month window.
• Keep the peace and obey any section 144 or attachment order, even if you believe it is wrong. Disobedience is a separate offence.

If the petition is plainly false, say so with evidence and ask for the proceedings to be dropped. A section 145 case is not a criminal accusation, so you will not be “convicted”, but losing it can cost you possession until a civil court rules. See also what to do in a false case.

Challenging a 145 order, and how it fits with a civil suit

Revision. A party aggrieved by a section 145 or 146 order can file a criminal revision before the Sessions Judge. Further challenge in the High Court Division is limited and is usually brought under section 561A of the Code. Time limits are short, so act within weeks, not months.

Civil suit. The 145 order is temporary by nature. It protects possession only “until evicted in due course of law”. The losing side can sue in the civil court for declaration of title and recovery of possession, and the civil decree will prevail. Where a civil court is already handling possession, with an injunction or a receiver, magistrates generally should not run a parallel 145 case.

Land Crime Act 2023. The new Act adds two things. Section 8 gives a separate restoration route before the Executive Magistrate, using section 145 procedure until rules are made, but it cannot be used if a civil possession suit on the same facts is pending. Section 7 makes illegal possession and dispossession without an order a crime punishable with up to 2 years. Choosing between section 145, section 8 and a civil suit depends on how long ago you lost possession and what is already pending.