Facing Legal Threats Over Notice Period: What Can I Do If I Can't Pay the Recovery Fee?

I was working in an MNC company. I worked for 4 months and resigned from the job due to medical reasons. I could not serve the notice period of 3 months, and now the company is asking me to pay $61,000 as notice period recovery, and legal action will be taken if I fail to do so. I don't want any relieving letter from the company, and I am okay even if they treat it as termination. I was ready to serve at least 1 and a half months' notice, but my manager forced me to accept the last working day one week after my resignation. I was ill-treated during my notice period, so I decided to stop going to the company the very next day. I have not signed any agreement and have handed over all the company assets. Now, my worry is, can the company take any legal action if I don't pay the amount? As I mentioned before, I don't need any relieving or experience letter from this company as I am not in a position to pay such a huge amount. It was a bad experience in my life to join this company, and now I am depressed. Please help me out in this case and let me know what I need to do.

And also wanted to know if a termination letter is issued, should we still pay the notice period recovery amount.

If there is evidence that you wanted to have served a notice period for one and a half months but were forced to resign, then you can challenge the employer's demands. Even otherwise, you can contest the demand for three months' salary in lieu of the notice period. Please refer to the recent linked thread on the subject titled "No relieving letter as not fulfilled the whole notice period."

Thanks,
Sushil