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Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 · Chapter XIII: Information to the Police and Their Powers to Investigate

Section 187: Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours

Earlier law: CrPC section 167 (Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours)

In plain words

If an arrested person is held and the investigation cannot be completed within twenty-four hours, the police (sub-inspector or above) must send the case diary entries and the accused to the nearest Magistrate. The Magistrate can authorise custody for up to fifteen days in total, in one or more parts, during the first forty or sixty days of the detention period.

  • Total detention cannot exceed ninety days for offences punishable with death, imprisonment for life or ten years or more, or sixty days for other offences. After that, the accused must be released on bail if they furnish it.
  • Police custody needs the accused to be produced in person each time. Judicial custody can be extended on production by audio-video.
  • Second class Magistrates cannot authorise police custody unless specially empowered. Reasons for police custody must be recorded.
  • A woman under eighteen years of age is held in a remand home or recognised social institution.
  • If no Magistrate is available, an Executive Magistrate with Magistrate powers can authorise up to seven days.
  • In summons-cases, investigation must stop after six months from arrest unless the Magistrate is satisfied that special reasons justify continuing.

A simplified explanation, prepared with AI assistance from the official text below and checked automatically against it for numbers and cross-references. The official text is the law and prevails over this summary. Not legal advice.

Read the in-depth explanation, with key Supreme Court rulings ↓

Official text

(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 subsection, 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.

Corresponding sections were matched by comparing the wording of both official texts, and for the IPC and BNS, also against a published correspondence table. Wording, punishments and structure often changed, so read both sections before relying on the match.

Source: India Code (indiacode.gov.in), the consolidated text published by the Legislative Department, Government of India. Text as updated on India Code on 12 September 2026. Words in square brackets [ ] were inserted or substituted by later amending Acts, and *** marks words omitted by an amendment. The amendment footnotes are not reproduced here. Official text on India Code.

Understanding this section

Section 187 replaces section 167 of the CrPC: detention of an arrested person when investigation cannot be completed within twenty four hours. The structure and default bail periods are the same, but the BNSS changes how police custody may be spread over the detention period.

What changed: police custody in parts

Police custody remains capped at fifteen days in total, but sub-section (2) now says it may be authorised in whole or in parts at any time during the initial forty days (for offences with a sixty day limit) or sixty days (for offences with a ninety day limit). Under the CrPC, the question of whether police custody was confined to the first fifteen days had been litigated; the BNSS settles it in the text.

Outer limits and default bail

  • Ninety days for offences punishable with death, life imprisonment, or ten years or more.
  • Sixty days for other offences.
  • If the charge sheet is not filed in time, the accused who applies and is prepared to furnish bail must be released.

Default bail is still indefeasible

The Supreme Court's rulings on the CrPC continue to apply: once the period expires and the accused applies and offers bail, the right cannot be defeated by a later charge sheet.

Key Supreme Court rulings

  • Uday Mohanlal Acharya v. State of Maharashtra 2001 INSC 184

    Decided under section 167 of the CrPC. An indefeasible right to bail accrues on failure to file the charge sheet in time, and is not defeated by later filing once availed of.

  • Bikramjit Singh v. The State of Punjab 2020 INSC 589

    An extension of the detention period by an authority not competent under the special law was invalid, and the accused was entitled to default bail.

Common mistakes

  • Exceeding fifteen days of police custody in total, even when taken in parts.
  • Granting police custody after the initial forty or sixty day window.

Read with: Section 58 BNSS, Section 193 BNSS, Section 167 CrPC

Prepared with AI assistance as a study aid. Every ruling listed was checked against the Supreme Court's own judgments on this site, and quoted words appear in those judgments; linked names open the full judgment. Read the judgments themselves before relying on them. Not legal advice.

Supreme Court judgments citing the section 187