Section 58 BNSS 2023: Person Arrested Not to Be Detained More Than Twenty-Four Hours

Section 58 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 limits police detention after an arrest without warrant. A police officer may not keep the arrested person in custody for longer than is reasonable in the circumstances and, without a special order of a Magistrate under Section 187, the period cannot exceed twenty-four hours excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate's Court.

What is Section 58 BNSS?

Section 58 is a safeguard against prolonged police custody following an arrest without warrant. It creates two connected limits: detention must remain reasonable in all the circumstances, and in the absence of a special Magistrate order under Section 187 it must not exceed twenty-four hours, after excluding necessary travel time to the Magistrate's Court.

Text of Section 58 - Person arrested not to be detained more than twenty-four hours

Section 58 contains a reasonableness requirement

The twenty-four-hour period is not an automatic entitlement to detain a person for the full twenty-four hours. The opening part of Section 58 separately requires that the detention must not be longer than is reasonable under all the circumstances of the case.

Twenty-four-hour limit without Magistrate authority

In the absence of a special order of a Magistrate under Section 187 BNSS, detention after arrest without warrant cannot exceed twenty-four hours, excluding only the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate's Court.

How is journey time treated?

Section 58 expressly excludes necessary journey time from the twenty-four-hour computation. The exclusion applies to the time necessary to travel from the place of arrest to the Magistrate's Court, whether that Court has jurisdiction in the case or not.

Relationship with Section 57 BNSS

Section 57 BNSS requires a police officer making an arrest without warrant to take or send the arrested person, without unnecessary delay and subject to bail provisions, before a Magistrate having jurisdiction or the officer in charge of a police station. Section 58 then places the additional reasonableness and twenty-four-hour limits on detention.

Relationship with Section 187 BNSS

Section 58 expressly refers to Section 187 BNSS. Where further detention is sought because investigation cannot be completed within the applicable initial period, continued custody requires judicial consideration and authority in accordance with Section 187 and other applicable provisions.

Health and safety during custody

The limitation on detention operates alongside Section 56 BNSS, under which the person having custody of an accused must take reasonable care of the accused's health and safety. Compliance with the time limit does not displace other custody safeguards.

Constitutional context

Article 22(2) of the Constitution of India separately requires every person arrested and detained in custody to be produced before the nearest Magistrate within twenty-four hours of the arrest, excluding the time necessary for the journey from the place of arrest to the Magistrate's Court, and prohibits detention beyond that period without the authority of a Magistrate. Section 58 forms part of the statutory framework implementing prompt judicial supervision after arrest.

Official legal resources

This page provides general legal information. The legality and duration of detention in an individual case depend on the facts, the applicable provisions of the BNSS, constitutional safeguards, judicial orders and binding decisions of competent courts.