Decide whether s.145 is the right tool

A section 145 CrPC case in Bangladesh fits only where two conditions meet. There must be a real dispute about actual possession of land, water or their produce, and that dispute must be likely to cause a breach of the peace. It does not decide title. If the real issue is ownership, or nobody is threatening violence, the proper route is a civil suit. A person dispossessed within the last six months can also sue for summary restoration under s.9 of the Specific Relief Act.

If a civil court is already dealing with possession and has made an order, the Magistrate should not run a parallel case.

Where: Lawyer's chamber · Time: 1-3 days · Law: s.145(1) CrPC; s.9 Specific Relief Act 1877; s.42 Specific Relief Act 1877 · Documents: Title deeds, Record of rights (khatian), Copies of any pending civil suit

Tip: Disclose any pending civil suit in the petition. Hiding it is a common reason for proceedings to be quashed later.

Gather proof of actual possession

Because the Magistrate looks only at who is physically in possession, the most useful evidence is practical, not legal. This includes land development tax receipts (DCR), utility bills, receipts from tenants or sharecroppers, cultivation records, photographs and video of the property with dates, and statements of neighbours. Title deeds and khatians help only to show that possession is likely, not to prove it. If you have been pushed out recently, record the date and manner of dispossession, because the law gives special protection to someone forcibly dispossessed within two months before the preliminary order.

Where: Disputed land or property · Time: 1-2 weeks · Law: s.145(4) CrPC; s.145(4) first proviso CrPC · Documents: DCR and land development tax receipts, Utility bills, Tenant or barga receipts, Dated photographs, Witness list

Tip: A single recent photograph is weak evidence. A series over months, with witnesses who can date them, is much stronger.

Inform the police

Where there are threats or a clash, the party should record a general diary (GD) entry or an FIR at the police station. The Magistrate can act on a police report or any other information, and in practice often asks the police to report on whether a breach of the peace is likely before making a preliminary order. The police may also send a report on their own initiative under the police regulations. A police report showing real tension on the ground carries considerable weight.

If an offence has already happened, such as trespass or assault, a separate criminal case can proceed alongside.

Where: Police station (thana) · Time: 1-4 weeks · Law: s.145(1) CrPC; s.154 CrPC; s.155 CrPC · Documents: GD entry or FIR copy, Police report

Tip: Keep the GD number. Magistrates routinely ask whether the police have been told about the threat.

File the petition before the Executive Magistrate

The petition is filed before the District Magistrate (the Deputy Commissioner) or an Executive Magistrate specially empowered by the government, usually the Additional District Magistrate's court at the Collectorate. Since the separation of the judiciary in 2007, these proceedings belong to Executive Magistrates, not Judicial Magistrates. The petition describes the property by mouza, dag and khatian numbers, sets out the facts of possession and the threat, names the opposing parties and attaches the main documents. It is usually supported by an affidavit.

Where: Executive Magistrate's Court, Deputy Commissioner's Office, Dhaka · Time: 1 day to file · Law: s.145(1) CrPC; s.10 CrPC · Documents: Petition with affidavit, Schedule of property, Copies of supporting documents, Court-fee stamp

Tip: Describe the property precisely with mouza, JL, khatian and dag numbers and boundaries. Vague descriptions make orders unenforceable.

Preliminary order under s.145(1)

If satisfied from the police report or other information that a dispute likely to cause a breach of the peace exists, the Magistrate makes a written preliminary order. It must state the grounds for that satisfaction. The order requires the parties to appear, in person or through a lawyer, on a fixed date and to file written statements of their claims about actual possession. An order without recorded grounds is a recognised defect and can be set aside in revision. The date of this order is crucial, because possession is judged as at that date.

Where: Executive Magistrate's Court, Deputy Commissioner's Office, Dhaka · Time: 1-4 weeks after filing · Law: s.145(1) CrPC · Documents: Preliminary order, Police report

Tip: Get a certified copy of the preliminary order and check that it records the grounds and the date clearly.

Service and publication of the order

A copy of the preliminary order is served on the parties named by the Magistrate in the same way as a summons. At least one copy must also be fixed in a conspicuous place at or near the disputed property, so that anyone else with an interest can come forward. People not originally named, such as other co-sharers or tenants, may apply to be added as parties. If service is not proved, the Magistrate should not proceed against the absent party.

Where: Disputed land or property · Time: 2-6 weeks · Law: s.145(3) CrPC; ss.68-71 CrPC · Documents: Service return, Proof of affixation

Tip: Photograph the affixed notice on the property with a date. It answers later claims that the order was never published.

Interim protection: s.144 order or emergency attachment

Where violence seems imminent, the Magistrate may first issue a temporary prohibitory order under s.144, for example forbidding both sides from entering the land or building on it. Such an order cannot normally last more than two months, and s.144 does not apply inside a metropolitan area such as Dhaka city, where comparable prohibitory orders come from the Police Commissioner under metropolitan police law. Within the s.145 proceeding itself, if the Magistrate considers the case an emergency, they may attach the property at any time pending the decision.

Attachment takes the property out of both parties' hands, and the police or a receiver then holds it. Parties may also be bound over to keep the peace under s.107.

Where: Executive Magistrate's Court, Deputy Commissioner's Office, Dhaka · Time: Days to 2 months · Law: s.144(6)-(7) CrPC; s.145(4) second proviso CrPC; s.145(10) CrPC; s.107 CrPC · Documents: Section 144 order, Attachment order, Police compliance report

Tip: Attachment is a drastic step. The party in actual possession should argue that their possession is clear and no emergency exists.

Receiver and perishable crops

When the property is attached, the Magistrate may appoint a receiver, unless a civil court has already appointed one. The receiver acts under the Magistrate's control with the powers of a receiver under the Code of Civil Procedure, such as collecting rents or harvesting crops. If a civil court later appoints its own receiver, the Magistrate's receiver must hand over possession and is discharged. Crops or produce liable to speedy decay can be ordered to be kept safely or sold, and the money is held until the case ends.

Where: Disputed land or property · Time: For the life of the attachment · Law: s.146(2) CrPC; s.145(8) CrPC; Order XL CPC · Documents: Receiver appointment order, Receiver's accounts, Sale record for crops

Tip: Ask for the receiver's accounts to be filed regularly. Disputes over rents collected during attachment are common.

Written statements and evidence

Each party files a written statement setting out its claim to actual possession on the date of the preliminary order, with documents. Evidence is commonly placed by affidavits of the parties and their witnesses, and the Magistrate may examine witnesses. Either party can ask the Magistrate to summon a witness or require a document to be produced. The Magistrate must decide without reference to the merits of anyone's claim to a right to possess, and title documents are relevant only as background showing which party's possession is more probable.

Where: Executive Magistrate's Court, Deputy Commissioner's Office, Dhaka · Time: 2-6 months · Law: s.145(1) CrPC; s.145(4) CrPC; s.145(9) CrPC · Documents: Written statements, Affidavits of witnesses, Documentary evidence

Tip: Focus every affidavit on possession: who lives there, who cultivates, who collects rent. Long arguments about title rarely help in this forum.

Local inquiry

Where it helps to see the property, the District Magistrate can depute a subordinate Magistrate, often with the assistance of the Assistant Commissioner (Land) or a survey officer, to make a local inquiry. The deputed officer visits the site, notes who is in occupation, what is growing or built, and may speak to neighbours, then submits a written report. That report can be read as evidence in the case, so both parties should attend the inquiry and make their points on the spot. The Magistrate can also decide who bears the inquiry costs.

Where: Disputed land or property · Time: 2-8 weeks · Law: s.148(1)-(2) CrPC · Documents: Local inquiry report, Sketch map

Tip: Attend the local inquiry with your witnesses and documents. Objections are much harder to raise once the report is filed.

Hearing and the no-dispute option

The Magistrate reads the statements, hears the parties, receives their evidence and considers the local inquiry report. Any party may show that no dispute likely to cause a breach of the peace exists or ever existed, for example because the opposing side has given up its claim or the parties have settled. If the Magistrate accepts that, the preliminary order must be cancelled and all further proceedings stopped. Otherwise the preliminary order remains final on this point, and the Magistrate proceeds to decide possession.

Where: Executive Magistrate's Court, Deputy Commissioner's Office, Dhaka · Time: 1-3 months · Law: s.145(4) CrPC; s.145(5) CrPC · Documents: Written arguments, Settlement deed, if any

Tip: A written settlement filed at this stage can end the proceeding quickly under s.145(5).

Final order on actual possession

If the Magistrate decides that a party was in actual possession on the date of the preliminary order, they declare that party entitled to possession until evicted in due course of law, and forbid all disturbance of it. If a party was forcibly and wrongfully dispossessed within the two months before the order, the Magistrate can treat that party as in possession and restore them to it. This is the core outcome of a section 145 CrPC case in Bangladesh, but it does not decide ownership and gives way to any civil court decree.

Where: Executive Magistrate's Court, Deputy Commissioner's Office, Dhaka · Time: Order usually 2-6 weeks after hearing · Law: s.145(6) CrPC; s.145(4) first proviso CrPC · Documents: Final order, Certified copy

Tip: The winning party should still file or defend a civil suit. A s.145 order protects possession only until a civil court rules.

If no one is found in possession: attachment

If the Magistrate decides that none of the parties was in possession, or cannot decide which one was, the property may be attached until a competent civil court determines the rights of the parties or the person entitled to possession. A receiver may be appointed. The Magistrate can withdraw the attachment at any time once satisfied there is no longer any likelihood of a breach of the peace. In practice, attachment pushes the parties to file a civil suit quickly.

Where: Executive Magistrate's Court, Deputy Commissioner's Office, Dhaka · Time: Until the civil court decides · Law: s.146(1) CrPC; s.146(1) proviso CrPC; s.146(2) CrPC · Documents: Attachment order, Receiver appointment

Tip: If the property is attached, file the civil suit without delay and ask the civil court to take over through its own receiver.

Enforcing the order

The police enforce the final order and any attachment, and the Magistrate can direct them to restore a dispossessed party. Anyone who knowingly disobeys a lawful order of a public servant, such as a s.144 or s.145(6) order, commits an offence under s.188 of the Penal Code. Fresh violence can lead to a separate criminal case or to security proceedings under s.107. The protected party should keep a copy of the order on the property and report any interference immediately.

Where: Police station (thana) · Time: As needed · Law: s.145(6) CrPC; s.188 Penal Code 1860; s.107 CrPC · Documents: Certified copy of final order, Complaint of disobedience

Tip: Send a copy of the final order to the police station and keep the receiving stamp.

The civil court decides title and possession

The final word belongs to the civil court. The losing party, or a party whose property is attached, can sue for declaration of title and recovery of possession. A suit under s.9 of the Specific Relief Act, filed within six months of dispossession, restores possession summarily without deciding title. Suits valued up to Tk 15 lakh go to a Civil Judge, up to Tk 25 lakh to a Senior Civil Judge, and above that to a Joint District Judge.

A civil decree overrides the Magistrate's order, and a civil court receiver replaces any receiver appointed by the Magistrate.

Where: Civil court: Civil Judge, Senior Civil Judge or Joint District Judge · Time: 2-6 years · Law: s.8 Specific Relief Act 1877; s.9 Specific Relief Act 1877; s.42 Specific Relief Act 1877; ss.18-19 Civil Courts Act 1887 (as amended 2021 and 2026); s.146(2) proviso CrPC · Documents: Plaint, Ad valorem court fee, Certified copy of the s.145 order

Tip: Since November 2025 the former Assistant Judge and Senior Assistant Judge courts are called Civil Judge and Senior Civil Judge courts.