Regular Bail under Section 483 BNSS and Default Bail under Section 187

Once a person has been arrested, bail is sought under three different provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023, each with its own logic. Section 480 governs bail by a Magistrate in a non-bailable offence (formerly Section 437 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973). Section 483 gives the Court of Session and the High Court their special bail powers (formerly Section 439). And Section 187(3) creates default bail, an entitlement that arises when the police do not complete the investigation within sixty or ninety days (formerly Section 167(2)). Section 479 adds an outer limit on undertrial detention (formerly Section 436A).

This note explains each provision, the order in which the courts are approached in Delhi, how the default-bail period is counted, and how the right to it is lost. It is written for the families of arrested persons, who usually have to act within days, and for accused persons in economic-offence cases, where the investigation is often document-heavy and the timelines matter more than usual. If arrest has not yet happened, the remedy is different; see Anticipatory Bail under Section 482 BNSS.

Key points

• For a bailable offence, release on bail is a right under Section 478.
• For a non-bailable offence, the first application usually goes to the Magistrate under Section 480, then to the Sessions Court and the High Court under Section 483.
• Section 480 restricts the Magistrate where there appear reasonable grounds for believing the accused guilty of an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment; Section 483 carries no such restriction.
• Default bail under Section 187(3) arises after ninety days for offences punishable with death, life imprisonment or imprisonment of ten years or more, and after sixty days for any other offence.
• The right to default bail must be claimed before the police report is filed, or it is lost.
• Section 479 requires release once an undertrial has served half the maximum sentence, or one-third for a first-time offender, subject to exceptions.

Which Court Hears a Bail Application After Arrest?

The answer depends on the offence and the stage. Every offence in the BNS is classified in the First Schedule to the BNSS as bailable or non-bailable, and the schedule also states which court tries it. The common economic offences, cheating under Section 318(4), criminal breach of trust under Section 316(2) and Section 316(5), forgery under Section 336(3) and forgery of a valuable security under Section 338, are all non-bailable and all triable by a Magistrate of the first class.

Delhi's district courts sit at Tis Hazari, Patiala House, Karkardooma, Rohini, Saket, Dwarka and Rouse Avenue, and the courts and tribunals page describes them. The BNSS has no category of Metropolitan Magistrate: Section 6 lists Courts of Session, Judicial Magistrates of the first and second class, and Executive Magistrates.

What Can a Magistrate Do under Section 480?

Section 480(1) applies to a person accused or suspected of a non-bailable offence who is arrested or detained without warrant, or who appears or is brought before a court other than the High Court or the Court of Session. He "may be released on bail", but with two restrictions:

• Clause (i): he shall not be released if there appear reasonable grounds for believing that he has been guilty of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life.
• Clause (ii): he shall not be released if the offence is cognizable and he has a previous conviction for an offence punishable with death, life imprisonment or seven years or more, or two or more previous convictions for a cognizable offence punishable with three years or more but less than seven.

The provisos soften both. The court may release a person within either clause if he is a child, a woman, or sick or infirm, and may release a person within clause (ii) for any other special reason. The fact that the accused may be needed for identification by witnesses, or for police custody beyond the first fifteen days, is not by itself a sufficient ground for refusing bail if he undertakes to comply with the court's directions. And where the offence is punishable with death, life imprisonment or seven years or more, the Public Prosecutor must be heard before bail is granted.

Clause (i) matters in economic cases. Section 316(5), criminal breach of trust by a public servant or a banker, merchant or agent, and Section 338, forgery of a valuable security, both carry imprisonment for life as an alternative punishment. Where an FIR invokes either, the restriction must be addressed, and the application is commonly taken straight to the Sessions Court.

The rest of the section supplies working rules:

• Section 480(2): if there are no reasonable grounds for believing the accused committed a non-bailable offence, but sufficient grounds for further inquiry, he shall be released on bail or on a bond.
• Section 480(3): for an offence punishable with seven years or more, or one under Chapters VI, VII or XVII of the BNS, the court shall impose conditions that the accused attends as the bond requires, does not commit a similar offence, and does not induce, threaten or tamper with witnesses or evidence. It may impose others in the interests of justice.
• Section 480(4): reasons for granting bail must be recorded.
• Section 480(6): in a case triable by a Magistrate, if the trial of a non-bailable offence is not concluded within sixty days from the first date fixed for taking evidence, an accused who has been in custody for the whole period shall be released on bail unless the Magistrate, for reasons recorded, directs otherwise.

What Powers Does Section 483 Give the Sessions Court and the High Court?

Section 483(1) allows either court to direct that any person accused of an offence and in custody be released on bail, imposing any condition necessary for the purposes in Section 480(3) where the offence is of that nature, and to set aside or modify any condition a Magistrate imposed. The power is not subject to the restrictions in Section 480(1).

Two provisos require notice. Before granting bail for an offence triable exclusively by the Court of Session, or punishable with imprisonment for life though not so triable, the court must give notice of the application to the Public Prosecutor unless, for reasons recorded, it considers notice impracticable. For offences under Section 65 or Section 70(2) BNS, notice must be given within fifteen days of receipt of the application, and Section 483(2) makes the presence of the informant obligatory at the hearing.

Section 483(3) allows either court to direct that a person released on bail under Chapter XXXV be arrested and committed to custody, which is the cancellation power. Section 484(2) allows either court to reduce the bail amount required by a police officer or Magistrate.

The jurisdiction is concurrent, but the settled practice in Delhi is to approach the Sessions Court before the High Court. A rejection by the Sessions Court is answered by a fresh application to the High Court under the same section, not by an appeal.

What Do Courts Weigh in a Bail Application?

The BNSS lists no factors for regular bail. It is settled that the court considers the nature and gravity of the accusation, the nature of the supporting evidence, the severity of the punishment, the risk that the accused will flee, the risk that he will tamper with evidence or influence witnesses, his antecedents, the period already spent in custody and the likely length of the trial, and parity with co-accused who have been released. It is equally settled that bail is not to be withheld as a punishment.

Economic offences are viewed seriously, particularly where public money is involved, but there is no rule that bail must be refused in them. The same considerations apply, weighed against the facts. Two points often carry weight in document-based cases: whether the documents have already been seized, so that custody adds little to the investigation, and whether the charge-sheet has been filed, so that the investigation stage is over. An application should address both with specifics, not general assertions.

What Is Default Bail under Section 187?

Section 58 forbids the police from detaining a person arrested without warrant for more than twenty-four hours, excluding travel time, without a Magistrate's order under Section 187. If the investigation cannot be completed in that time, Section 187(1) requires the officer to forward the accused to the nearest Magistrate with a copy of the case-diary entries.

Section 187(2) allows the Magistrate to authorise detention for not more than fifteen days in the whole, or in parts, at any time during the initial forty days or sixty days of the total detention period of sixty or ninety days. Police custody can therefore be split across the early weeks, not taken only at the start.

Section 187(3) sets the outer limits. Detention beyond fifteen days may be authorised on adequate grounds, but never for a total exceeding:

• 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; and
• sixty days, where it relates to any other offence.

On expiry of that period, the accused "shall be released on bail if he is prepared to and does furnish bail", and a person so released is deemed to be released under Chapter XXXV. Explanation I adds that the accused remains in custody, despite the expiry, for as long as he does not furnish bail. Section 187(4) requires production in person before police custody is authorised, though judicial custody may be extended on production through audio-video means, and Section 187(7) requires reasons to be recorded for police custody.

The ninety-day category is worded "ten years or more". The former Section 167(2) used "not less than ten years". Where the maximum for an offence is exactly ten years, check the punishment clause and count conservatively.

How Is the Sixty- or Ninety-Day Period Counted?

It is settled that the period runs from the date of the Magistrate's first order authorising detention, not from the date of arrest. The category depends on the punishment for the offence under investigation.

Where an FIR invokes several offences, the period follows the most serious one under investigation. Special statutes may set different periods, and Section 5 BNSS preserves them, so the governing statute should always be checked.

When Is the Right to Default Bail Lost?

It is settled that the right arises when the period expires without a police report under Section 193(3), and that it must be availed by applying and offering to furnish bail. If the report is filed before the accused applies, the right is gone. If he has already applied and is willing to furnish bail, a report filed later does not defeat it. It is also settled that default bail cannot be refused on the merits of the accusation. The practical rule follows: calculate the date at the first remand, and file the application on the day the period expires.

What Does Section 479 Add for Undertrial Prisoners?

Section 479(1) requires the court to release on bail a person who has been detained during investigation, inquiry or trial for up to one-half of the maximum sentence for the offence, unless the offence carries death or life imprisonment as one of its punishments. A first-time offender, one never convicted of any offence, shall be released on bond after one-third. The court may, after hearing the Public Prosecutor and for recorded reasons, order continued detention beyond one-half, but no one may be detained beyond the maximum sentence. Delay caused by the accused is excluded from the computation. Section 479(2) withholds the benefit where investigation, inquiry or trial in more than one offence or in multiple cases is pending against the person, and Section 479(3) obliges the jail superintendent to apply to the court when the half or one-third point is reached.

How Are Bail Bonds and Sureties Handled?

Section 2(1) distinguishes a "bail bond", an undertaking with surety, from a "bond", a personal bond without surety. Section 484(1) requires the amount to be fixed with due regard to the circumstances and not to be excessive. Section 485(4) allows the court to accept affidavits on the fitness of sureties, and Section 486 requires every surety to declare how many persons he has stood surety for. Section 487 requires the court to issue a release order to the jail once the bond is executed, and Section 490 allows a cash deposit in lieu of a bond, except a bond for good behaviour. For bailable offences, Section 478 requires an indigent person to be released on a personal bond, and a person who cannot give a bail bond within a week of arrest is presumed indigent.

Can Bail Be Cancelled?

Yes. Section 480(5) allows the court that granted bail under Section 480 to direct re-arrest, and Section 483(3) gives the Sessions Court and the High Court the same power over anyone released under Chapter XXXV. Breach of conditions, threats to witnesses, tampering with evidence and non-appearance are the usual grounds. Conditions on travel are frequent in economic cases, and they operate alongside any Look Out Circular; see Look Out Circulars against bank borrowers and guarantors.

Do Special Statutes Change the Rules?

Section 5 BNSS saves special procedures in other laws. In money-laundering cases, Section 45 of the Prevention of Money-laundering Act 2002 imposes twin conditions on bail; see Bail under Section 45 PMLA. Where the FIR itself discloses no offence, a petition to quash it may run alongside the bail application; see Quashing under Section 528 BNSS.

A Working Sequence in Delhi

1. At first production, note the date and time of the remand order; it starts the sixty- or ninety-day count.

2. Oppose police custody where it is not needed, and ask that reasons be recorded under Section 187(7).

3. File the bail application before the Magistrate under Section 480, or before the Sessions Court where clause (i) of Section 480(1) is engaged.

4. If refused, apply to the Sessions Court, and then to the Delhi High Court, under Section 483.

5. Track the default date separately, and apply under Section 187(3) on the day it falls if no report has been filed.

6. Arrange sureties and documents in advance, so the bond can be executed the same day the order is made.

A Note on Scope

This article is general information on Indian criminal procedure and is not legal advice. Bail turns on the FIR, the offences, the stage of investigation and the record. The wider practice area is described on the criminal defence page, terms are defined in the glossary, and queries may be directed through the contact page.