On Friday, the Centre told the Supreme Court that the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita-2023`s section 479, which relates to the "maximum period for which undertrial prisoner can be detained", would apply retrospectively to undertrials across the country.

Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, appearing for the Centre, told a bench of justices Hima Kohli and Sandeep Mehta that section 479 of the BNSS, which replaces section 436A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, will apply to all undertrials irrespective of the fact that the crime is registered before July 1, 2024.