Bail Provisions — Sections 478–497

6.1 Types of Bail

Bail in Bailable Offences (Section 478): A person accused of a bailable offence (listed in Schedule I of BNSS) has a right to bail — the police or Magistrate must grant it.

Bail in Non-Bailable Offences (Section 480): For non-bailable offences, bail is discretionary — the Magistrate/Sessions Court considers:

• Nature and gravity of accusation
• Antecedents of accused
• Possibility of fleeing justice
• Safety of victim and witnesses
• Likelihood of accused tampering with evidence

Anticipatory Bail (Section 482): Pre-arrest bail — Sessions Court/High Court can grant bail in anticipation of arrest. The Supreme Court has expanded the concept in Gurbaksh Singh Sibbia v. State of Punjab (1980) — conditions must not be onerous.

6.2 Bail as a Right for Undertrials — Section 479

New provision: An undertrial prisoner who has served half of the maximum sentence for the alleged offence (excluding capital offences and those punishable with life imprisonment) is entitled to bail as a right.

This addresses India's severe undertrial problem: ~75% of India's 5.5 lakh prison population are undertrials, many imprisoned for longer than the maximum sentence for their alleged offence.

CrPC S.436A (old): Similar provision existed but was discretionary — courts often ignored it. BNSS S.479 makes it a right, removing judicial discretion.

6.3 Bail Conditions

When granting bail in non-bailable offences, courts can impose:

• Surety requirement (amount)
• Surrender of passport
• No travel outside jurisdiction without permission
• Mandatory police station reporting
• No contact with witnesses/victim
• Electronic monitoring (location tracking — new under BNSS)

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