Decided on 8 August 1968, the Supreme Court set aside a trial-court direction that a bank could enforce a decree against a surety only after exhausting its remedies against the principal debtor. Under section 128 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, the surety's liability is co-extensive with the principal debtor's and, absent a contract to the contrary, immediate — not deferred, not conditional, and not contingent on the creditor's success or failure against the borrower first.