BNSS Sec 479 to apply with retrospective effect: Govt to Supreme Court

New Delhi: The Centre on Friday informed the Supreme Court that Section 479 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, which allows courts to grant bail to first-time offenders who have undergone detention for a third of the maximum period prescribed, would apply with retrospective effect.

This means the provision will apply to all undertrials in cases registered before July 1, 2024. Section 479 of the BNSS provides for the release of undertrials who have been behind bars for many years with no end in sight for trial. However, the said section does not extend the benefit to those who are accused of an offence for which the prescribed punishment is death or life imprisonment.

The proviso to Section 479 of BNSS introduces a new relaxation for first-time offenders (who have never been convicted of any offence). According to the proviso, first-time offenders shall be released if he/she has undergone detention for the period extending up to one-third of the maximum period prescribed for that offence. Its corresponding provision of the Code of Criminal Procedure, Section 436, was one-half of the maximum period.A division bench headed by Justice Hema Kohli had earlier asked if this provision would apply to undertrial prisoners arrested before July 1, 2024, the day BNSS came into effect. On Friday, during the resumed hearing, the counsel for the central government apprised the SC Section 479 would apply to all undertrial prisoners, irrespective of when the case was registered. The bench ordered "direct implementation of Section 479 BNSS by calling upon jail superintendent to process the pleas of the undertrials when they comply with the proviso of this provision".