Question

Under Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), 1973, 'Default Bail' (or statutory bail) is a right of the accused if the investigation is not completed:

• A. Upon the expiry of 120 days specifically for offences against the State.
• B. After 60 days or 90 days, contingent upon the maximum punishment prescribed for the offence.
• C. Immediately following the completion of the initial 15-day police custody.
• D. After a fixed period of 30 days for all types of offences.

Hint:

For CrPC exams, immediately associate Section 167(2) with "60 days / 90 days." These are among the most frequently tested procedural timelines.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Section 167(2) is built around a trade-off: the more serious the offence, the more time a fair investigation genuinely needs, but personal liberty still cannot be held hostage forever. Reading the options against this trade-off, rather than trying to recall a single number, gets to the answer.

1. Upon the expiry of 120 days specifically for offences against the State: The trade-off the section strikes tops out at 90 days even for the gravest offences carrying death or life imprisonment; there is no separate, longer 120-day allowance carved out for offences against the State specifically.
2. After 60 days or 90 days, contingent upon the maximum punishment prescribed for the offence: This is exactly the balance the section strikes, graver offences, death, life imprisonment, or ten years and above, get the longer 90-day investigation window, while all other offences get the shorter 60-day window, after which liberty prevails and default bail becomes available.
3. Immediately following the completion of the initial 15-day police custody: The 15-day custody period is about how long a person can be held with the police specifically for interrogation, a different and much narrower concern from the overall outer limit on investigation before default bail kicks in.
4. After a fixed period of 30 days for all types of offences: A single flat period regardless of offence gravity would abandon the trade-off entirely, either being too short for serious crimes needing real investigation time, or too long for minor ones where liberty should prevail sooner.

Balancing investigation needs against personal liberty exactly as Section 167(2) does confirms that default bail arises after 60 or 90 days depending on the offence's maximum punishment.

Answer 2

Mapping a few familiar offences onto the time periods is a reliable way to confirm which option is correct.

1. Upon the expiry of 120 days specifically for offences against the State: Even an offence like murder, which carries death or life imprisonment, only gets a 90-day investigation window under Section 167(2); there is no offence category, State-related or otherwise, that stretches this to 120 days.
2. After 60 days or 90 days, contingent upon the maximum punishment prescribed for the offence: An offence such as murder, or an offence punishable with ten years or more, falls in the 90-day tier, while an offence such as a simple theft, punishable with a shorter term, falls in the 60-day tier. Sorting real offences this way shows precisely the two tiers this option describes.
3. Immediately following the completion of the initial 15-day police custody: Fifteen days is far too short a window for either tier; treating default bail as available right after this custody period ends would ignore the much longer 60 or 90-day investigation period the law actually allows before that right accrues.
4. After a fixed period of 30 days for all types of offences: Neither the murder example nor the theft example fits a flat 30-day rule; both actually take longer, 90 and 60 days respectively, before default bail becomes available.

Testing real offence examples against each period confirms the two-tier 60/90-day scheme tied to the offence's maximum punishment.

The correct answer is therefore After 60 days or 90 days, contingent upon the maximum punishment prescribed for the offence.