Question

According to the provisions of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), 2023, an accused person intending to apply for 'Plea Bargaining' must do so within how many days following the formal framing of charges?

• A. 7 days
• B. 15 days
• C. 30 days
• D. 60 days

Hint:

For modern criminal procedure laws such as the BNSS, remember that plea bargaining is intended to occur at the very beginning of the trial process. Associate it with the number 15 days after framing of charges.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Thinking about why the law would fix any deadline at all for this application helps confirm which of the four numbers is correct.

1. Purpose of a deadline: Plea bargaining is meant to be a prompt, early decision made once the accused knows the precise charges, so that the criminal process is not slowed down by keeping this option open indefinitely.
2. Why 7 days does not fit: A period this brief would be an unusually tight window even for a provision designed to encourage promptness, and it is not the figure the BNSS actually specifies.
3. Why 30 and 60 days do not fit: Both of these are considerably longer than a period designed purely to secure an early decision; a full month or two months would allow the case to drift well into the trial stage before the accused commits to this route, defeating the promptness the provision is meant to secure.
4. Why 15 days fits: A two-week window is long enough to let the accused meaningfully consider the option after the charges are framed, yet short enough to keep the decision an early one, which is exactly the balance the BNSS strikes by fixing this period for plea bargaining applications.

Since the statutory deadline is designed to secure a prompt decision without being unreasonably short, the number that matches both this design and the actual text of the BNSS is 15 days, which is the correct answer.

Answer 2

Because criminal procedure contains several different day-based deadlines for different purposes, it helps to make sure this particular number is not being confused with a different, unrelated timeline.

1. 7 days: Short deadlines of this length appear elsewhere in criminal procedure for other specific purposes, such as certain limited compliance steps, but this is not the period fixed for filing a plea bargaining application.
2. 30 days: A month-long period is often associated with matters like filing certain appeals or other procedural steps unrelated to plea bargaining; carrying that figure over to this question would be a mismatch with the plea bargaining provision specifically.
3. 60 days: A two-month period is also associated with other categories of procedural timelines in criminal law, again distinct from the specific window given for applying for plea bargaining.
4. 15 days: This is the specific period the BNSS attaches to an accused's application for plea bargaining, counted from the date the charges are formally framed, and it should not be substituted with any of the other, unrelated day-counts that apply to different procedural steps.

Keeping this deadline distinct from other, differently numbered timelines used elsewhere in criminal procedure confirms that the period fixed specifically for a plea bargaining application under the BNSS is 15 days from the framing of charges, which is the correct answer.