S.187 BNSS | Supreme Court Affirms HC Judgment That Police Custody Must Be Within First 40 Days For Offences Punishable Upto 10 Yrs Imprisonment

The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to interfere with the judgment of the Karnataka High Court which held that as per Section 187 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), the 15-day police custody must be sought within the first forty days in cases of offences which are punishable upto ten years of imprisonment.

A bench comprising Justice Sudhanshu Dhulia and Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra dismissed the Special Leave Petition filed by the complainant challenging the High Court's judgment delivered on December 13, 2024.

In this case, the Magistrate refused to grant police custody of certain persons who were accused of offences under Section 108, 308(2), 308(5), 351(2) and 352 of BNS, which are punishable with imprisonment up to 10 years. Challenging the Magistrate's order, the State approached the High Court. Rejecting their plea, the High Court held that the period of investigation in the case at hand was 60 days and the police custody available in terms of Section 187 of BNSS is within 40 days. Those 40 days have lapsed, there was no warrant to grant police custody.

Justice M Nagaprasanna of the High Court said, “Where if the offence is punishable where term can be extended up to ten years, it could vary from one to ten. The police custody in such cases would be available for 15 days within the first 40 days of investigation. The 15-days could vary from day one to day forty, but the total would be 15-days"

“In the case at hand, the offence is punishable up to ten years, Therefore, the police custody is only from day one to day forty,” the High Court held.

Section 187(3) states that the Magistrate may authorise the detention of the accused person, beyond 15 days, if he is satisfied that adequate grounds exist for doing so. However no Magistrate shall authorise the detention of the accused person in custody under this sub-section for a total period exceeding–(i) 90 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) 60 days, where the investigation relates to any other offence.

Section 187(3) of BNSS was Section 167(2) of Criminal Procedure Code. Under Section 167 (2) CrPC investigation, has its completion period of 90 days, where the investigation relates to an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a period of ten years or more and for the remaining offences, it is 60 days. In BNSS, the same 90 days is permitted where imprisonment is for a term of ten years or more.

Advocate Amit Pai appeared for the complainant/petitioner before the Supreme Court.

Case : Hyder Ali v.State of Karnataka | SLP(Crl) No. 018063 - / 2024