Police Custody in Installments and the 60-Day Rule: Examining the Impact of Section 187 BNSS on the Right to Default Bail

The transition of India's criminal procedural framework from Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, to the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 has introduced a shift in pre-trial remand system. In this paper, small but significant changes made in Section 187, which allows the fifteen day police custody to be granted in installments during 40 day or 60 day investigation period in different circumstances are analysed. The research examines this 60 day shadow i.e. a period of extended vulnerability at the hands of Magistrates that clashes with the right to default bail under Article 21. By analysing the difference between Section 167 of CrPC and 187 of BNSS, and the judicial journey of this right, paper argues that this installment system delays remand, which in turn allows the state's to delay the 'crystallization' of the right to bail directly clashing with the fundamental rights.