Contrary to popular misconception – that only a Court can grant bail in a non-bailable offence – the reality is that : The Police can also grant bail in non-bailable offences.

A perusal of Section 437, Sub-sections (2) and (4), CrPC reveals that the architects of CrPC, in fact, vested a police officer with the power to grant bail even in a non-bailable offence.

This is clear from the phraseology employed in these sub-sections : “it appears to such officer” “or “at the discretion of such officer” [Section 437(2) CrPC] and “An officer or a court releasing a person on bail…” [Section 437(4) CrPC].

Form No.45 attached to Second Schedule of CrPC further reinforces this.

Sources/Further reading:

1. An Article titled ‘Role of Police and the Law of Bail in Common Law Jurisdictions’ by Anurag Deep (Associate Professor, ILI, New Delhi) featured in ‘Taking bail Seriously’ published by LexisNexis.
2. Select Committee’s observations – discussed in Sohoni’s commentaries on The Code of Criminal Procedure of 1931 and other commentators on the subject.
3. Section 437 of the CrPC
4. Form No. 45 appended to Second Schedule.

PS : This post does not examine or opine on the propriety/desirability of giving such a power to the police and its consequences/practical implications; We leave that for another post – another day.