Default Bail under Section 187(3) BNSS: 60/90-Day Calculation, Application Format and Case Law (2026)

Your client has been in custody for almost two months. The investigating officer keeps telling the court "the chargesheet is being prepared". The family calls you every evening.

If the police miss the statutory deadline, you don't need to argue the merits at all. The law gives your client a right to bail, called default bail (also known as statutory bail, and "60/90 din wali bail" in many court corridors). Under the BNSS it is in Section 187(3), which replaced Section 167(2) of the CrPC.

But this right is easy to lose. Miss the day count by one day, or file the application a few hours after the chargesheet, and the right is gone. This guide shows you how to count the days, when to file, what to write, and the Supreme Court rulings to rely on.

Default bail in one line

If the chargesheet is not filed within the time allowed, and the accused applies and is ready to furnish bail, the court must release the accused on bail. The court does not weigh the merits of the case.

The procedure applies to FIRs registered on or after 1 July 2024. For older matters, check which code applies using our CrPC to BNSS conversion table.

Step 1: Is it a 60-day or a 90-day case?

Look at the punishment for the most serious offence under investigation, not the label on the FIR.

The grey zone: offences where imprisonment "may extend to ten years". The CrPC used the words "not less than ten years". The BNSS uses "ten years or more". High Courts have read the new words differently:

• The Karnataka High Court has read "ten years or more" as a minimum-sentence test. Under that reading, an offence with a maximum of ten years falls in the 60-day category.
• Other decisions and commentators read it as including offences where the maximum is ten years, which would put them in the 90-day category.

LiveLaw has called this "the confusion continues". If your case falls in this zone, find the latest binding view of your own High Court before you count. When the point is open, file on the 61st day and argue the 60-day reading. You lose nothing by filing early.

Watch for a graver section added close to the deadline. Sometimes, as day 60 approaches, the police seek to add an offence punishable with life imprisonment so that the 90-day period applies. That step cannot be waved through. In Ranganth Tulshiram Galande v. State of Maharashtra (7 October 2025), the police had invoked BNS 316(5), which carries life imprisonment, alongside cheating offences, and the court had only marked the investigating officer's application "seen". The Bombay High Court held that when detention is extended beyond the statutory period, the court must pass a speaking and reasoned order after hearing the prosecution, and the accused must get a fair chance to oppose it. Because the requirement was not met, the accused was granted default bail. If your remand order sheet shows a bare "seen" or "allowed" on such an application, object at once and rely on this judgment.

Special laws have their own periods. Under the NDPS Act (Section 36A(4)) and the UAPA (Section 43D(2)), the period can be longer, and it can be extended by the court on a report from the Public Prosecutor. Check the special Act before you count.

Step 2: Count the days correctly

This is where most default bail applications fail.

Rule 1: Start from the date of the first remand order by the Magistrate, not the date of arrest.

Rule 2: Include the day of the first remand. In Enforcement Directorate v. Kapil Wadhawan (2023), a three-judge Bench of the Supreme Court held that the day the Magistrate first authorises remand is counted. The right accrues on the 61st or 91st day if the chargesheet has not been filed.

Worked example:

Check your count on a calendar, day by day. Do not count "two months" or "three months". Months have different numbers of days, and the difference of one day decides the application.

Build a custody chronology on the first day you get the brief: date of arrest, date of production, date of first remand, every remand extension, the offence sections, and the date the period ends. Keep it on top of the file. Our police remand guide for Section 187 BNSS explains how to read the remand orders.

Step 3: File before the chargesheet, and file early in the day

The right is indefeasible, but only if you exercise it in time.

• The application must be made before the chargesheet is filed. In Bikramjit Singh v. State of Punjab (2020), the Supreme Court held that once the period expires and the accused applies for default bail before a chargesheet is filed, the right becomes complete.
• A later chargesheet does not defeat an application already made. In M. Ravindran v. Intelligence Officer, DRI (2020), the Supreme Court held that once the accused has applied, the prosecution cannot defeat the right by filing a chargesheet, an additional complaint or a request for more time afterwards.
• If the chargesheet comes first, the right is lost. If the police file the chargesheet before you apply, default bail is no longer available. Your client is left with regular bail on the merits under Section 480 or 483 BNSS.

Practical tips from the court corridor:

1. Have the application ready the day before. File it on the morning the right accrues, as early as the court allows.
2. Get the filing time recorded. Ask the registry or the court to note the date and time on the application. If the police file the chargesheet the same day, the time matters.
3. Say clearly that the accused is ready to furnish bail. Put it in the application, and keep sureties ready. The right is "availed" when the accused applies and is prepared to furnish bail.
4. Ask for a decision the same day. Delay helps the prosecution. Cite M. Ravindran if the court is told the chargesheet is "about to be filed".

Step 4: What if the police file an incomplete chargesheet?

Sometimes a chargesheet is filed only to stop the clock, with the investigation clearly still open. The Supreme Court considered this in Ritu Chhabaria v. Union of India (2023), holding that an incomplete chargesheet filed to defeat default bail does not take away the right. Courts were later told not to rely on that decision while the issue was reconsidered, so check its current status before citing it. Separately, once a chargesheet is filed within time, default bail is generally not available merely because cognizance has not yet been taken.

Chargesheet filed on time but not given to your client? That is not a ground for default bail. In Shaurya Sunil Kumar Singh v. Central Bureau of Investigation (1 July 2026), the Supreme Court held that where the chargesheet was filed within the prescribed period, failing to supply a copy to the accused does not entitle them to default bail under Section 187(3) BNSS. Default bail turns on whether the chargesheet was filed in time, not on whether it was served. Press for copies under Section 230 BNSS instead, which requires them to be supplied within 14 days of production or appearance.

Default bail application format

Adapt this to your court's practice. Use the correct court name, the custody chronology and the actual dates.

IN THE COURT OF THE [CHIEF JUDICIAL MAGISTRATE / JUDICIAL MAGISTRATE FIRST CLASS / SPECIAL JUDGE], [DISTRICT]

Bail Application No. ______ of 2026

In the matter of: State v. [Name of accused]
FIR No. ______ dated ______, Police Station ______
Sections: ______ of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023

APPLICATION FOR DEFAULT BAIL UNDER SECTION 187(3) OF THE BHARATIYA NAGARIK SURAKSHA SANHITA, 2023

The applicant most respectfully submits:

1. That the applicant was arrested on [date] and was first remanded by this Hon'ble Court on [date].
2. That the offences alleged are punishable with a maximum of [punishment]. The period under Section 187(3) BNSS is therefore [60/90] days.
3. That, counting the day of the first remand (Enforcement Directorate v. Kapil Wadhawan, 2023), the period expired on [date].
4. That no chargesheet or police report under Section 193 BNSS has been filed till the filing of this application, and no extension has been granted under any special law.
5. That the applicant has thus acquired an indefeasible right to be released on bail (Bikramjit Singh v. State of Punjab, 2020; M. Ravindran v. Intelligence Officer, DRI, 2020).
6. That the applicant is prepared to and will furnish bail and sureties to the satisfaction of this Hon'ble Court, and will abide by any conditions imposed.

PRAYER

It is therefore prayed that the applicant be released on default bail under Section 187(3) BNSS on such terms as this Hon'ble Court deems fit.

Place: ______ Date: ______ Time of filing: ______

Applicant, through Counsel
[Name, enrolment number]

Attach the remand orders (or their certified copies), the FIR, and an affidavit if your court's practice requires one.

Default bail in Hindi: terms used in UP, MP, Bihar and Rajasthan courts

In Hindi-medium courts, the same application is often drafted in Hindi. The terms you will need:

Common mistakes that cost your client bail

1. Counting from the date of arrest instead of the date of the first remand.
2. Excluding the first remand day.
3. Treating a "may extend to ten years" offence as a 90-day case without checking your High Court's view.
4. Waiting for the next date to file the application.
5. Not recording the time of filing when the police file the chargesheet the same day.
6. Arguing the merits. Default bail does not depend on them, and arguing them gives the prosecution room to delay.
7. Forgetting that special laws (NDPS, UAPA) have their own periods and extensions.
8. Not objecting when a graver section is added near day 60 without a reasoned order (Ranganth Tulshiram Galande, Bombay HC, 2025).
9. Claiming default bail only because the chargesheet copy was not served, when it was filed in time (Shaurya Sunil Kumar Singh, Supreme Court, 2026).

Draft it in minutes with Juniorlawyer

Upload the FIR and the remand orders, including Hindi copies photographed on your phone. Juniorlawyer reads the dates, shows the 60- or 90-day count for you to check, and drafts a default bail application under Section 187(3) BNSS in English or Hindi. You check the dates against the record, edit in Word, and file.

• Try the AI bail application drafter
• Download the free bail application format
• Turn a Hindi remand order into text with Hindi legal document OCR

The draft is your starting point. The dates and the law in the final application are your call. For more on regular bail, see the BNSS bail application format.