Delhi High Court: UAPA Default Bail Period Remains 180 Days, Not 90 After BNSS

The Delhi High Court has held that even after the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) came into force, the period for default bail under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) continues to be 180 and not 90 days. Default bail is a right to be released from custody when the police or investigating agency fails to finish investigation and file a chargesheet within a set time limit.A Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan rendered the findings while dismissing the default bail plea filed by Jasir Bilal Wani alias Danish, an accused in the November 2025 Red Fort terror blast case. Wani had argued that Section 43D(2) of the UAPA, which permits extension of detention up to 180 days, refers explicitly to Section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), which has now been repealed. He said that since parliament did not amend Section 43D to reference Section 187 of the BNSS (the CrPC's replacement provision), this created a "legislation by incorporation" that froze the reference to the old law, entitling the accused to default bail after 90 days rather than 180.Justice Prathiba M Singh and Justice Vikas MahajanDelhi High CourtThe purpose of increasing the detention period to 180 days in the UAPA, is to provide longer period of detention for heinous offences such as terrorism.The Court rejected the argument. It held that reference to Section 167 of the CrPC in Section 43D of the UAPA has to be construed as a reference to Section 187 o