Statutory time limits for seeking police remand under section 187 BNSS

Section 187 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, governing police remand, provides that custody for a term not exceeding fifteen days in total or in parts may be authorized by a Magistrate during the initial forty or sixty days of the total detention period. In offences that are not punishable with death, imprisonment for life, or imprisonment for a term of ten years or more, the applicable statutory period within which police remand can be sought is restricted to the initial forty days. Investigating agencies are bound to operate within this strict statutory timeline when making applications for custodial interrogation. Seeking police remand long after the expiry of the initial statutory window, especially after the accused has been released on bail, runs counter to the structural scheme of criminal procedure. Revisional courts cannot casually grant police custody after prolonged delays without adverting to these statutory temporal limitations. Thus, adherence to the prescribed initial period for seeking police custody is mandatory to protect accused persons from belated custodial demands. (Pogadadabnda Revathi & Anr. v. The State of Telangana | 2026 INSC 75)