I have been interviewed and selected by a company , let's name it "XYZ Consultant". I accepted the job offer from them. They asked me to accept a "No-Shop Agreement" over email before sharing the final offer letter. As per the agreement, the company would pay me a sum of 50,000 as a pre-joining bonus on acceptance of offer letter and if I will : decline the offer letter and will not join them , I need to pay them a sum of 1,00,000. Due to some family emergencies, I had to drop the offer letter. Now as per the "No Shop Agreement", I was liable to pay 1 Lac. I paid 50,000 back to them as a part payment but not in a condition to pay them rest 50,000. Can someone help me understand the legal bindings for this and is it actually legal to bind someone to join the firm?
Other details : I am an IT employee and the firm that hired me is a private company. Jurisdiction : India
Regards