Under Section 187(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the Magistrate may authorise the…

Under Section 187(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (which replaced Section 167(2)(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973), no Magistrate shall authorise the detention of the accused person in custody under that 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; and (ii) sixty days, where the investigation relates to any other offence. 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 default (statutory) bail if he is prepared to and does furnish bail. Notably, unlike the former Section 167(2)(a)(i) CrPC (which used the phrase "not less than ten years" construed in Rakesh Kumar Paul v. State of Assam), Section 187(3)(i) BNSS expressly uses the phrase "imprisonment for a term of ten years or more".