Sunday, August 25, 2024

Supreme Court grants benefit of Section 479 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to undertrials across the country retrospectively

Supreme Court's bench of bench of Justices Hima Kohli and Sandeep Mehta held that Section 479 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023 would apply retrospectively to the undertrials across the country. It implies that the provision will apply to all undertrials in cases was registered before July 1, 2024. The observations were delivered on August 23, 2024. Aishwarya Bhati, the Additional Solicitor General (ASG) confirmed that Section 479 would apply to undertrial prisoners irrespective of the date when the case was registered.

Section 479 reads: Maximum period for which undertrial prisoner can be detained-(1)Where a person has, during the period of investigation, inquiry or trial under this Sanhita of an offence under any law (not being an offence for which the punishment of death or life imprisonment has been specified as one of the punishments under that law) undergone detention for a period extending up to one-half of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for that offence under that law, he shall be released by the Court on bail:Provided that where such person is a first-time offender (who has never been convicted of any offence in the past) he shall be released on bond by the Court, if he has undergone detention for the period extending up to one-third of the maximum period of imprisonment specified for such offence under that law:Provided further that the Court may, after hearing the Public Prosecutor and for reasons to be recorded by it in writing, order the continued detention of such person for a period longer than one-half of the said period or release him on bail bond instead of his bond:Provided also that no such person shall in any case be detained during the period of investigation, inquiry or trial for more than the maximum period of imprisonment provided for the said offence under that law.Explanation.-In computing the period of detention under this section for granting bail, the period of detention passed due to delay in proceeding caused by the accused shall be excluded.

(2)Notwithstanding anything in sub-section (1), and subject to the third proviso thereof, where an investigation, inquiry or trial in more than one offence or in multiple cases are pending against a person, he shall not be released on bail by the Court.

(3)The Superintendent of jail, where the accused person is detained, on completion of one-half or one-third of the period mentioned in sub-section (1), as the case may be, shall forthwith make an application in writing to the Court to proceed under sub-section (1) for the release of such person on bail. 

The Court's order reads:“On the last date of hearing, Amicus Gaurav Aggarwal had submitted that Section 479 of BNSS that allows grant of bail to first-time undertrials. The attention of this court was drawn to the first proviso of Section 479. Having regard to the fact that the substituted provision of Section 436A CrPC was more beneficial where the period undergone was mentioned as 1/2rd of the maximum sentence undergone, this new provision provided for 1/3rd of the maximum sentence. We had sought clarification from ASG Bhati regarding applicability of this new provision of Section 479 BNSS. Ms. Bhati submitted that instructions have been obtained from concerned ministry that Section 479 will be applicable on all undertrials irrespective of whether cases were registered before July 1.” Notably, this provision of BNSS is similar to Section 436A of Cr.P.C.




 

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