Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023
Section 468
Period of detention undergone by accused to be set off against sentence of imprisonment
Where an accused person has, on conviction, been sentenced to imprisonment for a term, not being imprisonment in default of payment of fine, the period of detention, if any, undergone by him during the investigation, inquiry or trial of the same case and before the date of such conviction, shall be set off against the term of imprisonment imposed on him on such conviction, and the liability of such person to undergo imprisonment on such conviction shall be restricted to the remainder, if any, of the term of imprisonment imposed on him: Provided that in cases referred to in section 475, such period of detention shall be set off against the period of fourteen years referred to in that section.
Why this exists
It would be deeply unfair for someone to serve their full sentence on top of time they already spent locked up waiting for trial, often through no fault of their own given how slowly cases can move. This long-standing 'set-off' rule makes punishment proportionate to the total time a person actually spends in custody, not just the time served after conviction.
How courts read it
Indian courts have consistently treated this set-off rule (earlier Section 428 of the CrPC) as mandatory rather than discretionary — pre-conviction custody time for the same case must be counted, and the Supreme Court has directed trial courts to calculate and apply this set-off at the time of sentencing itself, rather than leaving prisoners to sort it out later with jail authorities.
Common misconceptions
- Myth: Only time spent in jail after being formally convicted counts toward the sentence.
Fact: Time spent in custody during investigation and trial, before conviction, is also counted and subtracted from the final sentence.