Section 187.   Procedure when investigation cannot be completed in twenty-four hours.

(1) Whenever any person is arrested and detained in custody, and it appears
that the investigation cannot be completed within the period of twenty-four hours fixed by
section 58, and there are grounds for believing that the accusation or information is
well-founded, the officer in charge of the police station or the police officer making the
investigation, if he is not below the rank of sub-inspector, shall forthwith transmit to the
nearest Judicial Magistrate a copy of the entries in the diary hereinafter specified relating to
the case, and shall at the same time forward the accused to such Magistrate.
(2) The Judicial Magistrate to whom an accused person is forwarded under this
section may, irrespective of whether he has or has no jurisdiction to try the case, after taking
into consideration the status of the accused person as to whether he is not released on bail
or his bail has not been cancelled, authorise, from time to time, the detention of the accused
in such custody as such Magistrate thinks fit, for a term not exceeding fifteen days in the
whole, or in parts, at any time during the initial forty days or sixty days out of detention
period of sixty days or ninety days, as the case may be, as provided in sub-section (3), and
if he has no jurisdiction to try the case or commit it for trial, and considers further detention
unnecessary, he may order the accused to be forwarded to a Judicial Magistrate having
such jurisdiction.
(3) The Magistrate may authorise the detention of the accused person, beyond the
period of fifteen days, if he is satisfied that adequate grounds exist for doing so, but no
Magistrate shall authorise the detention of the accused person in custody under this
sub-section for a total period exceeding—
(i) ninety days, where the investigation relates to an offence punishable with
death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term of not less than ten years;
(ii) sixty days, where the investigation relates to any other offence,
and, on the expiry of the said period of ninety days, or sixty days, as the case may be, the
accused person shall be released on bail if he is prepared to and does furnish bail, and every
person released on bail under this sub-section shall be deemed to be so released under the
provisions of Chapter XXXIV for the purposes of that Chapter.
(4) No Magistrate shall authorise detention of the accused in custody of the police
under this section unless the accused is produced before him in person for the first time and
subsequently every time till the accused remains in the custody of the police, but the
Magistrate may extend further detention in judicial custody on production of the accused
either in person or through the medium of electronic video linkage.
(5) No Magistrate of the second class, not specially empowered in this behalf by the
High Court, shall authorise detention in the custody of the police.
Explanation I.—For the avoidance of doubts, it is hereby declared that,
notwithstanding the expiry of the period specified in sub-section (3), the accused shall be
detained in custody so long as he does not furnish bail.
Explanation II.—If any question arises whether an accused person was produced
before the Magistrate as required under sub-section (4), the production of the accused
person may be proved by his signature on the order authorising detention or by the order
certified by the Magistrate as to production of the accused person through the medium of
electronic video linkage, as the case may be:
Provided that in case of a woman under eighteen years of age, the detention shall be
authorised to be in the custody of a remand home or recognised social institution:
Provided further that no person shall be detained otherwise than in police station
under policy custody or in prison under Judicial custody or place declared as prison by the
Central Government or the State Government.
(6) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1) to sub-section (5), the
officer in charge of the police station or the police officer making the investigation, if he is
not below the rank of a sub-inspector, may, where a Judicial Magistrate is not available,
transmit to the nearest Executive Magistrate, on whom the powers of a Judicial Magistrate
have been conferred, a copy of the entry in the diary hereinafter specified relating to the
case, and shall, at the same time, forward the accused to such Executive Magistrate, and
thereupon such Executive Magistrate, may, for reasons to be recorded in writing, authorise
the detention of the accused person in such custody as he may think fit for a term not
exceeding seven days in the aggregate; and, on the expiry of the period of detention so
authorised, the accused person shall be released on bail except where an order for further
detention of the accused person has been made by a Magistrate competent to make such
order; and, where an order for such further detention is made, the period during which the
accused person was detained in custody under the orders made by an Executive Magistrate
under this sub-section, shall be taken into account in computing the period specified in
sub-section (3):
Provided that before the expiry of the period aforesaid, the Executive Magistrate shall
transmit to the nearest Judicial Magistrate the records of the case together with a copy of
the entries in the diary relating to the case which was transmitted to him by the officer in
charge of the police station or the police officer making the investigation, as the case may
be.
(7) A Magistrate authorising under this section detention in the custody of the police
shall record his reasons for so doing.
(8) Any Magistrate other than the Chief Judicial Magistrate making such order shall
forward a copy of his order, with his reasons for making it, to the Chief Judicial Magistrate.
(9) If in any case triable by a Magistrate as a summons-case, the investigation is not
concluded within a period of six months from the date on which the accused was arrested,
the Magistrate shall make an order stopping further investigation into the offence unless
the officer making the investigation satisfies the Magistrate that for special reasons and in
the interests of justice the continuation of the investigation beyond the period of six
months is necessary.
(10) Where any order stopping further investigation into an offence has been made
under sub-section (9), the Sessions Judge may, if he is satisfied, on an application made to
him or otherwise, that further investigation into the offence ought to be made, vacate the
order made under sub-section (9) and direct further investigation to be made into the
offence subject to such directions with regard to bail and other matters as he may specify.