Section 187 BNSS — Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours.

187. Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours. (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 57, 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 Judicial Magistrate a copy of the entries in the diary hereinafter prescribed relating to the case, and shall at the same time forward the accused to such Magistrate. (2) The Magistrate may, whether he has or has no jurisdiction to try the case, authorise the detention of the accused person, otherwise than in the custody of the police, for a total period not 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; or (ii) sixty days, where the investigation relates to any other offence: Provided that the Magistrate may, on an application made by the investigating officer, authorise the detention of the accused person in the custody of the police for a term not exceeding fifteen days in the whole, and such custody may be ordered in one or more tranches, during the first forty days or sixty days out of the detention period of sixty days or ninety days, as the case may be: Provided further that no Magistrate shall authorise the detention of the accused person in the custody of the police under the first proviso for a total period exceeding- (a) fifteen days in the whole, where the investigation relates to an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term of ten years or more; (b) ten days in the whole, where the investigation relates to any other offence. (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 section shall be deemed to be so released under the provisions of Chapter XXXIII for the purposes of that Chapter. (4) Where the accused is produced before a Magistrate and the Magistrate considers that the accused is not in a fit state of mind to make his defence, he shall, if the accused is not represented by a pleader, give him an opportunity to engage a pleader and shall before authorising the detention of the accused, record the opinion that the accused is not in a fit state of mind to make his defence. (5) Where the Magistrate authorises the detention of the accused person in custody of the police under this section, he shall record his reasons for so doing. (6) If, in respect of- (i) any case triable by a Magistrate as a summons-case, the investigation is not concluded within a period of six months from the date of the arrest of the accused, or (ii) any case exclusively triable by a Court of Session or a case under Chapter XVIII of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (45 of 1860), the investigation is not concluded within a period of two years from the date of the arrest of the accused, or (iii) any other case, the investigation is not concluded within a period of one year from the date of the arrest of the accused, the Magistrate shall make an order stopping further investigation into the offence and shall discharge the accused unless the officer making the investigation satisfies the Magistrate that for special reasons and in the interest of justice the continuation of the investigation beyond the period mentioned in this sub-section is necessary. (7) Where any order stopping further investigation into an offence has been made under sub-section (6), 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 (6) and direct further investigation to be made into the offence.