Section 67

The provision balances two goals: ensuring fines are actually paid (by giving courts a real consequence for non-payment) while protecting offenders from disproportionate punishment. Since the legislature chose to make certain offences punishable by fine alone, treating them as less serious, the law restricts the default jail term so it stays proportionate to the fine amount and mandates 'simple' imprisonment rather than harsh labour, reflecting the minor nature of these offences.

Courts have consistently held that the default sentence of imprisonment under Section 67 (read with Section 64 IPC) is meant to be a coercive tool to secure payment of the fine, not an additional punishment for the offence itself. Judges have emphasized that once the fine is paid or recovered, the imprisonment must end immediately, and that the scale of default imprisonment fixed here operates as a strict ceiling that trial courts cannot exceed.

• Myth: Section 67 lets courts send someone to jail as an extra punishment on top of the fine.
  Fact: Courts have clarified that this imprisonment is only a substitute for an unpaid fine, not an additional penalty for the crime itself.
• Myth: The jail term can be of any harshness, including hard labour.
  Fact: The section explicitly requires 'simple imprisonment' only, without hard labour, when the underlying offence is punishable by fine alone.