Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (New CRPC Bill) Allows Police Detention After First 15 Days Arrest

The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023 (BNSS), which seeks to repeal and replace the Criminal Procedure Act 1973 (CrPC), proposes an important clarification regarding the period of police custody. Section 187 (2) of the BNSS, which mirrors the provision of Section 167 (2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, provides that police custody for a total or partial period of 15 days may be requested at any time during…

The Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill, 2023 (BNSS), which seeks to repeal and replace the Criminal Procedure Act 1973 (CrPC), proposes an important clarification regarding the period of police custody.

Section 187(2) of the BNSS, mirroring the provision in Section 167(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, states that police custody can generally be requested for 15 days, Or in parts, at any time within the first sixty days (if the offense is punishable by death, life imprisonment, or imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years) or within the first forty days (in respect of other offences).

Rebecca M. explained. John, a prominent criminal law attorney, says that this ruling allows the investigative agency to request police custody for 15 days in “slices” during the first 40/60 days of the investigation. This means that police custody can be requested at different times after the initial 15-day period after arrest. She also noted that the text made it clear that police custody could not exceed 15 days; However, it does not need to be sought once during the first 15 days of detention, as is now commonly understood, but can be obtained at various intervals within 40 or 60 days depending on the case.

The current provision on police custody – Section 167 (2) CPC – does not expressly state that police custody for 15 days can be requested in a staggered manner across the investigation period. This has led to conflicting views. One view is that the 15 days’ remand should be obtained at once, also for the first 15 days of remand. This view gained the upper hand as it was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1992 in this case CBI vs. Anupam Kulkarni. This ruling stipulates that precautionary detention is not permissible after the first fifteen days have passed, and after this period, precautionary detention should be only.

parallax in Anupam Kulkarni It was questioned by a coordinating bench of the Supreme Court in April this year CBI vs. Vikas Mishra. In this case, the court allowed CBI police custody for 4 days on the grounds that there was no effective interrogation during the initial pre-trial detention period as the accused was admitted to hospital.

Last week, in this case in. Senthil Balaji v. StateA panel of two High Court judges interpreted Article 167(2) to provide that a period of 15 days in police custody could be the sum of shorter periods of detention required over the entire investigation period of 60 or 90 days, taken as a whole.

“This period of 15 days, whether in police custody or in favor of the investigating officer, shall be calculated and extended over the entire period of investigation… The period of 15 days is the maximum period and shall be extended from time to time with the total period being 60 or 90 days as the case may be. Any other interpretation would seriously weaken the authority of the investigation.”Note that the seat includes… Judges AS Bubanna and M. M. Sondrich. The bench also pointed out Anupam Kulkarni To a larger seat to reconsider.