The Supreme Court recently held in The State of Andhra Pradesh vs Suda Suresh Veera Venkata Naga Raju that Section 187(2) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), enlarges the window during which police custody may be sought by the investigating agency. Such custody, under the BNSS is now available in parts, though in aggregate not exceeding 15 days during the first 40 or 60 days of the total permissible period of detention, rather than being confined to the first 15 days of remand alone.
Current law on police remand
Thus, in case the probe is not completed within the above stipulated time period, the accused person may be released, which is widely known as default bail. The Supreme Court in the Suda Suresh case held that this legislative change was intended to meet situations where fresh facts, discoveries or leads may emerge during the course of investigation. Section 187(3) provides that the magistrate may authorise the (judicial) detention of an accused person beyond the period of 15 days, if he is satisfied that adequate grounds exist for doing so, for a period exceeding – (i) 90 days, where the investigation relates to an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term of 10 years or more; (ii) 60 days, where the investigation relates to any other offence.
Therefore, the window of police remand was enlarged beyond the initial 15 days, up to 40 days or 60 days of investigation.
Case under consideration by the SC
In a case of custodial death in which the dead body of the deceased-victim remained untraced, the original hard disks of the CCTV system were yet to be discovered, and discoveries under the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) were imminent, the judicial magistrate granted eight days of police custody (against the requested 12 days), and allowed the accused to nominate two advocates of his choice to be present during police custody. A magistrate or a court while exercising its supervisory jurisdiction, cannot place an absolute and non-extendable outer limit on custody, since such a limit forecloses recourse to Section 187(2) of the BNSS, regardless of what the investigation may yet reveal. Out of the two advocates, one was allowed to be present at any given point of time during investigation. The order clearly stated that ‘under no circumstances shall the period of police custody granted under this order be extended’. the Andhra Pradesh High Court modified some conditions pertaining to the period of police custody and presence of an advocate throughout the probe While on appeal. The Supreme Court held that the apprehensions expressed by the investigating agency were realistic and justified and the statutory scheme under the BNSS which enlarges the window of police custody, must also be borne in mind.
The State therefore challenged the above conditions in the Supreme Court on the premise that these directly impinged upon the rights of the investigating officer to conduct unhindered investigation. The Court therefore permitted 7 days of (additional) police custody so that the total period of police remand, including that granted by the lower courts would not exceed 15 days.
