Supreme Court on Police Custody under BNSS

In State of Andhra Pradesh v. Suda Suresh Veera Venkata Naga Raju, the Supreme Court clarified that Section 187(2) of the BNSS, 2023 permits police custody to be sought in parts during the first 40 or 60 days of detention, depending on whether the applicable statutory detention period is 60 or 90 days. However, the total police custody cannot exceed 15 days.

Change from CrPC

Under Section 167 of the CrPC, 1973, police custody could generally be authorised only during the initial 15 days of remand. The BNSS has therefore expanded the time window within which police custody can be sought, while retaining the 15-day overall ceiling.

Purpose of the Extended Window

The provision allows investigators to seek police custody later within the prescribed window when fresh facts, discoveries or investigative leads emerge during investigation. Thus, there is no absolute 15-day cut-off preventing further police custody within the statutory period.

Detention under BNSS

Under Sections 58 and 187 of the BNSS, an arrested person cannot ordinarily be detained by police for more than 24 hours without Magistrate’s authorisation. Where investigation cannot be completed within this period, the Magistrate may authorise detention.

The maximum detention period is 90 days for offences punishable with death, life imprisonment or imprisonment of 10 years or more, and 60 days for other offences. After expiry of the applicable period, the accused becomes entitled to default bail, provided the statutory conditions for furnishing bail are met.

Right to Advocate — Section 38 BNSS

An arrested person has the right to meet an advocate of their choice during interrogation. However, this does not mean continuous physical presence or intervention by the lawyer throughout interrogation. The advocate may remain within sight, but cannot interfere with the investigation.

Audio-Visual Recording

The Court clarified that continuous videography of the accused's transit is not mandatory. The requirement is satisfied through audio-visual recording of the actual interrogation and discovery/recovery proceedings.