Bailable offence
An offence shown as bailable in the First Schedule to the BNSS, or made bailable by any other law. A person accused of it is entitled to release on bail as of right.
Explained
Section 2(1)(c) of the BNSS defines a bailable offence as an offence which is shown as bailable in the First Schedule, or which is made bailable by any other law for the time being in force. Every other offence is a non-bailable offence. The definition is purely one of classification: whether an offence is bailable depends on the entry in the First Schedule or in the special law, not on how grave the facts of a particular case appear. The same definition was earlier in Section 2(a) of the CrPC.
The consequence of the classification is stated in Section 478 of the BNSS (earlier Section 436 CrPC). A person, other than one accused of a non-bailable offence, who is arrested or detained without warrant by an officer in charge of a police station, or who appears or is brought before a Court, and who is prepared to give bail, shall be released on bail. Neither the officer nor the Court has a discretion to refuse. If the person is indigent and cannot furnish surety, he shall be discharged on executing a bond for appearance, and the Explanation allows indigence to be presumed where he is unable to give a bail bond within a week of arrest. Section 47(2) obliges a police officer arresting without warrant for such an offence to tell the person that he is entitled to bail and may arrange sureties.
In a non-bailable offence bail is discretionary, not forbidden. Section 480 governs release by the police and by Courts other than the High Court and Court of Session, and bars release where there are reasonable grounds for believing the accused guilty of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, subject to the provisos for a child, a woman, or a sick or infirm person.
Examiners test the exact wording of Section 2(1)(c), the one week indigence presumption, the absence of discretion in bailable cases, and the refusal of bail under Section 478(2) to a person who earlier broke the conditions of his bond as to time and place of attendance. Bailability and cognizability are separate classifications: one concerns release, the other arrest without warrant.
What the law says
(c) “bailable offence” means an offence which is shown as bailable in the First Schedule, or which is made bailable by any other law for the time being in force; and “non-bailable offence” means any other offence;
Section 2(1)(c) defines bailable and non-bailable offence
Earlier law: CRPC 2. Definitions.
(1) When any person other than a person accused of a non-bailable offence is arrested or detained without warrant by an officer in charge of a police station, or appears or is brought before a Court, and is prepared at any time while in the custody of such officer or at any stage of the proceeding before such Court to give bail, such person shall be released on bail:
Provided that such officer or Court, if he or it thinks fit, may, and shall, if such person is indigent and is unable to furnish surety, instead of taking bail bond from such person, discharge him on his executing a bond for his appearance as hereinafter provided.
Explanation.—Where a person is unable to give bail bond within a week of the date of his arrest, it shall be a sufficient ground for the officer or the Court to presume that he is an indigent person for the purposes of this proviso:
Bail as of right in bailable offences; bond for indigent persons
Earlier law: CRPC 436. In what cases bail to be taken.
(2) Where a police officer arrests without warrant any person other than a person accused of a non-bailable offence, he shall inform the person arrested that he is entitled to be released on bail and that he may arrange for sureties on his behalf.
Arrested person to be told of his right to bail in a bailable offence
Earlier law: CRPC 50. Person arrested to be informed of grounds of arrest and of right to bail.
(1) When any person accused of, or suspected of, the commission of any non-bailable offence is arrested or detained without warrant by an officer in charge of a police station or appears or is brought before a Court other than the High Court or Court of Session, he may be released on bail, but—
(i) such person shall not be so released if there appear reasonable grounds for believing that he has been guilty of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life;
(ii) such person shall not be so released if such offence is a cognizable offence and he had been previously convicted of an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for seven years or more, or he had been previously convicted on two or more occasions of a cognizable offence punishable with imprisonment for three years or more but less than seven years:
Discretionary bail in non-bailable offences
Earlier law: CRPC 437. When bail may be taken in case of non-bailable offence.
Earlier law: Section 2, CrPC
Example
For example, A is arrested without warrant for an offence that the First Schedule shows as bailable. If A offers bail, the officer in charge of the police station must release him and cannot refuse because the facts look serious.
For the exam
- Defined in Section 2(1)(c) BNSS (earlier Section 2(a) CrPC); every other offence is non-bailable.
- Bailability comes from the First Schedule or the special law, not from the facts of the case.
- Section 478: bail is a right; an indigent person is released on his own bond.
- Indigence may be presumed if no bail bond is given within a week of arrest.
- Bailable and cognizable are independent classifications; an offence can be both.
156 questions in the Law Maker question bank use this term. Practise Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita questions
Related terms
- Non-bailable offenceAn offence that is not shown as bailable in the First Schedule to the BNSS and is not made bailable by any other law. Bail in such a case rests in the court's discretion and is not a right.
- BailRelease of a person accused or suspected of an offence from the custody of law, on conditions imposed by an officer or Court, after he executes a bond or a bail bond. Defined in Section 2(1)(b) of the BNSS.
- Bail bondAn undertaking for release with surety. Section 2(1)(d) of the BNSS; contrasted with a 'bond', which is a personal bond or undertaking for release without surety.
- Cognizable offenceAn offence for which a police officer may arrest without warrant, in accordance with the First Schedule to the BNSS or any other law in force.
- OffenceAn act or omission made punishable by law. The BNS core meaning is a thing made punishable by the Sanhita; the BNSS meaning covers any law in force.
Further reading
Checked 6 November 2026. Statutory text is quoted from the Bare Acts library, taken from India Code. See the full glossary.