Section 187 BNSS: Remand, Custody Limits and Default Bail Explained

Default bail is the right of an arrested person to be released on bail when the police do not complete the investigation within the time the law allows: 90 days for offences punishable with death, life imprisonment or imprisonment of ten years or more, and 60 days for all other offences. It is provided in Section 187(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), which replaced Section 167 of the former Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) from 1 July 2024. The right must be claimed by applying for bail and furnishing it; it is not granted on its own.

Default bail is also called statutory or compulsive bail. If someone in your family is in custody and the days are running, our page on the best default bail lawyer in Delhi explains how the application is prepared and moved.

What Section 187 BNSS does

Section 58 BNSS says a person arrested without warrant cannot be kept in police custody for more than twenty-four hours, excluding the time needed for the journey to the Magistrate’s court, unless a Magistrate makes a special order under Section 187. Most investigations take longer. Section 187 sets the rules for what happens next:

• Sub-section (1): where the investigation cannot be finished within twenty-four hours and there are grounds to believe the accusation is well-founded, the officer in charge of the police station, or an investigating officer not below the rank of sub-inspector, must send the case diary entries to the nearest Magistrate and forward the accused.
• Sub-section (2): the Magistrate may authorise detention in such custody as he thinks fit, for not more than fifteen days in the whole, or in parts, within the first forty or sixty days of detention.
• Sub-section (3): detention beyond fifteen days is allowed only if there are adequate grounds, and never beyond the outer limit of 60 or 90 days. On expiry of that limit, the accused shall be released on bail if he is prepared to and does furnish bail.
• Sub-sections (4) and (5): police custody needs production of the accused in person; a Magistrate of the second class cannot order police custody unless specially empowered by the High Court.
• Sub-sections (7) and (8): a Magistrate ordering police custody must record reasons, and a Magistrate other than the Chief Judicial Magistrate must send a copy of the order with reasons to the Chief Judicial Magistrate.

The 60-day and 90-day limits

Investigation relates to an offence punishable with	Outer limit of custody during investigation
Death, imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for a term of ten years or more	90 days
Any other offence	60 days

The category depends on the offence, so the first step is always to read the sections in the FIR and their maximum punishment. Where several offences are invoked, the gravest one usually decides the period. Special statutes, such as the NDPS Act, have their own provisions that can extend the time, and those must be read alongside Section 187.

The days are generally counted from the date the Magistrate first authorises detention. Because the starting point and the exact day of expiry are argued in practice, a lawyer should work out the count from the remand papers rather than from memory.

Police custody in parts: what changed from the old Section 167 CrPC

Under the old Section 167 CrPC, when the fifteen days of police custody could be taken was debated in the courts for years. Section 187(2) BNSS now says expressly that the fifteen days may be authorised “in the whole, or in parts”, at any time during the initial forty days (where the outer limit is sixty days) or the initial sixty days (where it is ninety days).

In practice this means the investigating agency can ask for police custody again later in the investigation, as long as the total stays within fifteen days and the request falls within that window. Each request still needs the accused to be produced in person and the Magistrate to record reasons. For the accused, the point to watch is the running total of police custody days and whether the window has closed.

Default bail must be claimed in time

The right under Section 187(3) arises from the investigating agency’s delay, not from the strength of the defence, which is why it is called default bail. The court does not weigh the merits of the allegation when deciding it. But the right is not self-executing:

1. The accused must apply. An application stating that the period has expired and that the accused is ready to furnish bail is filed before the court that holds the accused in custody.
2. Bail must be furnished. Explanation I to Section 187 says the accused stays in custody so long as he does not furnish bail. Surety documents should be ready before the day.
3. Timing decides the outcome. Courts have generally held that if the charge-sheet is filed before the accused applies, the right is lost and the accused must seek regular bail under Section 480 or 483 BNSS. If the application is moved after the period expires but before the charge-sheet is filed, courts have held that a charge-sheet filed later does not defeat the right.

Our bail documents checklist lists what the court and the jail will ask for once release is ordered.

Other safeguards in Section 187

• Executive Magistrate (sub-section 6): if a judicial Magistrate is not available, the accused may be forwarded to an Executive Magistrate with the powers of a Magistrate, who can authorise detention for not more than seven days in the aggregate, for reasons recorded in writing. When those days end, the accused must be released on bail unless a competent Magistrate orders further detention; if he does, the days spent under the Executive Magistrate’s orders count towards the 60 or 90 days.
• Girls under eighteen: a woman under eighteen must be detained in a remand home or a recognised social institution.
• Place of detention: no one may be detained anywhere except a police station (police custody), a prison (judicial custody) or a place declared a prison by the government.
• Summons cases (sub-sections 9 and 10): in a case triable as a summons case, if investigation is not concluded within six months from the arrest, the Magistrate shall stop further investigation unless the officer shows special reasons; the Sessions Judge may later direct further investigation.

Old cases: Section 167 CrPC or Section 187 BNSS?

Section 531(2)(a) BNSS provides that an investigation pending immediately before 1 July 2024 continues under the old CrPC. So in an older investigation still running, remand and default bail orders will cite the old Section 167 CrPC; in a case registered on or after 1 July 2024, they will generally cite Section 187 BNSS. The 60-day and 90-day periods are the same under both; the main difference is the new rule on police custody in parts. Make sure the application cites the provision that actually applies to the case.

First steps if a family member is in custody in Delhi

1. Note the dates. Date and time of arrest, date of first production, and every remand order.
2. Get the FIR sections. They decide whether the period is 60 or 90 days.
3. Keep a custody calendar. Track police custody days and judicial custody days separately.
4. Ask about the charge-sheet. Check with the court record and the investigating officer close to the deadline.
5. Prepare the application and surety early, so it can be moved on the day the period expires.

No lawyer can promise bail. What a lawyer can do is count correctly, keep the application ready and move it at the right moment, and tell you plainly if the right has not arisen or has been lost.

Speak to our advocates

If a remand date is coming up or the 60th or 90th day is close, call +91 97181 81919 (24×7 for arrests) or send the FIR number and the remand order on WhatsApp. See our criminal lawyer in Delhi page for the courts we appear in and how we work.

This article is general information and is not legal advice. The application of these provisions depends on the facts of each case.