Section 187 BNSS: Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours (Formerly Section 167 CrPC)

Section 187 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023: Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours

Official Bare Act Text

Override / Mandate Mens Rea (Intent) Actus Reus (Conduct) Punishment Limitation Monetary

(1) Whenever any person is arrested and detained in custody, and it appears that the investigation cannot be completed within the period of twenty-four hours fixed by section 58, and there are grounds for believing that the accusation or information is well-founded, the officer in charge of the police station or the police officer making the investigation, if he is not below the rank of sub-inspector, shall forthwith transmit to the nearest Magistrate a copy of the entries in the diary hereinafter specified relating to the case, and shall at the same time forward the accused to such Magistrate.

(2) The Magistrate to whom an accused person is forwarded under this section may, irrespective of whether he has or has no jurisdiction to try the case, after taking into consideration whether such person has not been released on bail or his bail has been cancelled, authorise, from time to time, the detention of the accused in such custody as such Magistrate thinks fit, for a term not exceeding fifteen days in the whole, or in parts, at any time during the initial forty days or sixty days out of detention period of sixty days or ninety days, as the case may be, as provided in sub-section (3), and if he has no jurisdiction to try the case or commit it for trial, and considers further detention unnecessary, he may order the accused to be forwarded to a Magistrate having such jurisdiction.

(3) The Magistrate may authorise the detention of the accused person, beyond the period of fifteen days, if he is satisfied that adequate grounds exist for doing so, but no Magistrate shall authorise the detention of the accused person in custody under this sub-section for a total period exceeding—

(i) ninety days, where the investigation relates to an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term of ten years or more;

(ii) sixty days, where the investigation relates to any other offence, and, on the expiry of the said period of ninety days, or sixty days, as the case may be, the accused person shall be released on bail if he is prepared to and does furnish bail, and every person released on bail under this sub-section shall be deemed to be so released under the provisions of Chapter XXXV for the purposes of that Chapter.

(4) No Magistrate shall authorise detention of the accused in custody of the police under this section unless the accused is produced before him in person for the first time and subsequently every time till the accused remains in the custody of the police, but the Magistrate may extend further detention in judicial custody on production of the accused either in person or through the audio-video electronic means.

(5) No Magistrate of the second class, not specially empowered in this behalf by the High Court, shall authorise detention in the custody of the police. Explanation I.—For the avoidance of doubts, it is hereby declared that, notwithstanding the expiry of the period specified in sub-section (3), the accused shall be detained in custody so long as he does not furnish bail. Explanation II.—If any question arises whether an accused person was produced before the Magistrate as required under sub-section (4), the production of the accused person may be proved by his signature on the order authorising detention or by the order certified by the Magistrate as to production of the accused person through the audio-video electronic means, as the case may be:

Provided that in case of a woman under eighteen years of age, the detention shall be authorised to be in the custody of a remand home or recognised social institution:

Provided further that no person shall be detained otherwise than in police station under police custody or in prison under judicial custody or a place declared as prison by the Central Government or the State Government.

(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) to sub-section (5), the officer in charge of the police station or the police officer making the investigation, if he is not below the rank of a sub-inspector, may, where a Magistrate is not available, transmit to the nearest Executive Magistrate, on whom the powers of a Magistrate have been conferred, a copy of the entry in the diary hereinafter specified relating to the case, and shall, at the same time, forward the accused to such Executive Magistrate, and thereupon such Executive Magistrate, may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, authorise the detention of the accused person in such custody as he may think fit for a term not exceeding seven days in the aggregate; and, on the expiry of the period of detention so authorised, the accused person shall be released on bail except where an order for further detention of the accused person has been made by a Magistrate competent to make such order; and, where an order for such further detention is made, the period during which the accused person was detained in custody under the orders made by an Executive Magistrate under this sub-section, shall be taken into account in computing the period specified in sub-section (3):

Provided that before the expiry of the period aforesaid, the Executive Magistrate shall transmit to the nearest Judicial Magistrate the records of the case together with a copy of the entries in the diary relating to the case which was transmitted to him by the officer in charge of the police station or the police officer making the investigation, as the case may be.

(7) A Magistrate authorising under this section detention in the custody of the police shall record his reasons for so doing.

(8) Any Magistrate other than the Chief Judicial Magistrate making such order shall forward a copy of his order, with his reasons for making it, to the Chief Judicial Magistrate.

(9) If in any case triable by a Magistrate as a summons-case, the investigation is not concluded within a period of six months from the date on which the accused was arrested, the Magistrate shall make an order stopping further investigation into the offence unless the officer making the investigation satisfies the Magistrate that for special reasons and in the interests of justice the continuation of the investigation beyond the period of six months is necessary.

(10) Where any order stopping further investigation into an offence has been made under sub-section (9), the Sessions Judge may, if he is satisfied, on an application made to him or otherwise, that further investigation into the offence ought to be made, vacate the order made under sub-section (9) and direct further investigation to be made into the offence subject to such directions with regard to bail and other matters as he may specify.

Statutory Defined Terms in this Section: (Click any term for official legal definition)

Charge Sec 2(1)(b) Investigation Sec 2(1)(h) Police Station Sec 2(1)(q) Bail Sec 478

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 187

Section 187 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 governs magisterial remand, police custody, and the fundamental right to default bail when investigations exceed statutory timelines.

Inquiry & Trial Mechanism: Section 187 embodies the procedural battleground of pre-trial detention.
Core Legal Standard: When investigation cannot be completed within 24 hours, the accused must be produced before the nearest Magistrate.
Sub-Section (2) Provision: Under sub-section (2) and (3), the Magistrate may authorize detention in such custody as the Magistrate thinks fit (police custody) for a term not exceeding fifteen days in the whole, or in parts, at any time during the initial forty or sixty days of the total detention period of sixty or ninety days.
Operational Mechanism: This marks a critical legislative modification of the old Anupam Kulkarni doctrine.

Crucially, under sub-section (5), if the investigation is not completed and the charge-sheet is not filed within sixty days (for general offences) or ninety days (for offences punishable with death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment not less than ten years), the accused has an absolute, indefeasible statutory right to be released on default bail upon furnishing sureties.

Key Landmark Precedents:

Bikramjit Singh v. State of Punjab (2020) 10 SCC 616: The Supreme Court held that the right to default bail under Section 167(2) CrPC (Sec 187 BNSS) upon non-filing of the charge-sheet within the statutory period is an indefeasible fundamental right flowing directly from Article 21.
M. Ravindran v. Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (2021) 2 SCC 485: Settled that the moment the statutory 60/90 day period expires and the accused files an application for default bail offering to furnish bail, the right gets crystallized and cannot be defeated by subsequent filing of a charge-sheet during the pendency of the application.
CBI v. Anupam J. Kulkarni (1992) 3 SCC 141 & V. Senthil Balaji v. State (2024) 3 SCC 51: Analyzed the scope of police custody remand in light of BNSS Section 187(3), which statutorily permits police custody in parts during the first 40 or 60 days, settling decades of conflicting jurisprudence.

Legal Commentary:

Section 187 is the most litigated section in criminal practice. The right to default bail is absolute and non-discretionary: the Magistrate cannot evaluate the gravity of the crime once the 60 or 90 days elapse without a charge-sheet. Defense practitioners must track the remand calendar precisely and file the Section 187(5) default bail application on the 61st or 91st day before the police report is submitted.