Borrower photograph publication by a bank requires wilful default or special circumstances before coercive action can proceed.

A bank may be restrained from publishing a borrower's photograph or similar details as a coercive measure unless there is wilful default or other special circumstances justifying such action. The court applied earlier caution that routine publication is impermissible and recognised that pending SARFAESI and civil proceedings do not, by themselves, justify threatened publication. Because the materials did not show mala fide deliberate non-payment, injunctive relief was granted against implementation of the impugned letter, while the bank's substantive recovery remedies remained unaffected.

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Issues: Whether the bank could be restrained from acting on its letter proposing publication of the borrowers' photographs and other details, in the absence of a declaration of wilful default and in the factual setting of pending SARFAESI and civil proceedings.

Analysis: The petitioners had admitted the loan liability, but the material on record did not show a wilful default or mala fide deliberate non-payment of the kind contemplated for coercive publication of photographs. The Court applied the caution expressed in its earlier Division Bench decision that such publication should not be resorted to routinely and may be justified only in special circumstances. The impugned communication was also not treated as a show-cause notice for the purpose of limiting judicial interference. In the circumstances, the pending proceedings did not justify denial of relief against the threatened publication.

Conclusion: The petitioners were entitled to injunctive relief restraining the bank from giving effect to the impugned letter.

Final Conclusion: The writ petition succeeded and the interim protection was confirmed, while the bank's substantive remedies against the company were left open.

Ratio Decidendi: A bank cannot, in the absence of wilful default or special circumstances, resort to publication of a borrower's photograph and similar coercive measures where such action would infringe the borrower's right to dignity.

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