B.
A 6th Semester
Law and police administration
Lodging of First Information report
What is FIR?
FIR stands for First Information Report; means First Information of a Cognizable
offence that is given by a person who is an eye witness or well aware about the
offence and that information is presented before the police station as an application
to take necessary legal action.
FIR according to CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure)
According to section 154 of CrPC, it articulated that, when any information of any
cognizable offence is presented before the police station whether written or orally
the police officer (duty officer) will write down the information and read it to the
informant, after that the informant will sign that written document.
Procedure of FIR
Every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence if given
orally to an officer in charge of a police station shall be reduced to writing by him
or under his direction.
The officer will then read the whole Information to the informant.
If the information is the same as given by the informant the informant will sign it
as his approval
After that
Then the police officer will fill up B. P. Form No. 27 as mentioned in the Police
Regulations Bengal, 1943 (Section 243)
This is the procedure to file FIR for an ordinary person after FIR Police will take
necessary steps to take proper action.
Elements of FIR
Some elements must be present in FIR, like;
Name of the Police Station
Name, Identity and address of the informant
Name and other information of accused (If possible)
Date and time of the crime/offence
Place of the Offence
Name of the witness (if any)
Sign or Thumb impression of the informant
Some other information is not must in the FIR but shall provide a clear picture of
the situation and will be a great support during the trial, such as;
If Filing of FIR is delayed; reason and explanation of that delay.
Describing the incident step by step with time schedule
Any previous reference of enmity between the accused and the victim
Medical report if already obtained, but do not wait for a medical report as it will be
collected by police during the investigation.
Mention any other incident, connection, document, report if related to that offence.
Some rulings regarding FIR
Police will not deny filing the FIR to verify the information first (PRB 243 (f))
FIR must not be delayed for Doctors’ certificate
If the informant does not want to sign in the FIR that information should be logged
as GD
Previous GD can be considered as FIR after the occurrence of the offence
Information over the telephone can also be considered as FIR but the informant
must come and sign in the document if the informant is reluctant to do so police
officer himself can be the informant for that FIR.
A Constable or other authorized person in the police station can File the FIR if the
concerned officer is not in the station.
Information of FIR must be concreating and the officer may try to find it via
simple question.
Evidentiary value of FIR
FIR is one of the most significant elements of a criminal case but no judgment can
be given only based on the FIR, therefore, corroboration of other evidence and
witnesses are necessary. It is admissible under Section 8 of the Evidence Act,
1872. This report can be used in the case to rise or remove any doubt about the
case.
Consequence of False FIR
Often we see people File a false claim and accuse other people out of enmity,
giving false information regarding FIR is an offence punishable under section 182
or 211 of Penal Code. which mean by presenting a false FIR a person may put
himself in prison from 6 months up to 7 years which may also include fine.
Who can file an FIR?
With regards to the persons who have the authority to file an FIR for a specific
offence, either the victim himself/herself, or a friend or relative of the victim, or
any other person who has the knowledge that the crime has been committed can
file an FIR. The person who informs the police about the commission of the
offence is called an informant.
What will the police do after filing FIR?
After filing the application via FIR this is becoming a GR (General Register) Case,
at first police will take the accused in custody if they are already caught by the
informant or by general person (under section 59 of CrPC) and shall show them
arrest if they believe the story mentioned in the FIR. They will run their own
investigation; talk with witnesses and take evidence like doctors’ report, previous
history, criminal record, previously logged GD etc under section 154 of CrPC, then
they will produce the accused and all evidence before the court (of Magistrate) for
his consideration. The case will be represented by the government via a public
prosecutor (govt. advocate) appointed by the government.
What to do if FIR is filed against you?
If you think FIR is filed against you check by sending someone to the police
station who you can fully trust. Know the sections/offences that are mentioned
against you and contact a lawyer immediately.
Part II
Effects of Refusal to Lodge First Information Report
Remedy of non-registration of FIR
Refusal to register FIR: legal or illegal?
The foremost question that arises here is, whether the officer-in-charge of the
police station can deny registering the FIR in any circumstance? The answer to this
is affirmative. The denial by the police officer to file an FIR is considered legal
typically in two scenarios, firstly, if the complaint is about an awfully trivial issue,
or secondly, if that particular police station does not have the territorial jurisdiction
of that offence.
With regards to the first situation, it is unusual for a cognizable offence to be a
nugatory matter so this condition would hardly apply here. However, the refusal to
register FIR based on the second ground is pretty common and the solution to
which is the “Zero FIR”. The concept of a Zero FIR is that if a person is unable to
file an FIR in the police station with correct territorial jurisdiction for a particular
offence due to any reason, then he may file the same in any other police station
within his/her reach, and such police station would later transfer the report to the
police station which actually has the jurisdiction for that offence. However, if the
police officer refuses to lodge the report on some unexplainable grounds or even
without giving any reason, it’d definitely be considered illegal. Then the aggrieved
would have to seek remedy for the same as provided under the law, which has been
discussed next.
Statutory Remedy
As provided by Clause (3) of Section 154 of Cr.P.C., if a person is refused by an
officer-in-charge of a police station to register his report, then such person has an
option to send the content of the information of crime in written form to the
concerned Superintendent of Police via post so that the information could be
recorded and investigated upon.
After receiving the information, if the SP is contended with regards to the
disclosure of a cognizable offence based on such information, then he would either
examine the case by himself or command any other subordinate police officer to do
the same in accordance with the Code. Also, the investigating officer would have
the same powers as the officer-in-charge of the police station with respect to the
investigation.
Judicial Remedy
If the remedy u/s 154(3) Cr.P.C. doesn’t prove to be effective, then the informant
is advised to directly file a private complaint before the concerned Judicial
Magistrate under Section 156(3) r/w Section 190 of the Criminal Procedure Code.
Under this, the said Magistrate is empowered to take the cognizance of the case on
receiving such a complaint and direct the police to investigate the case.
Latika Kumari case
The most crucial landmark judgement when it comes to matters relating to the
registration of FIR is the Latika Kumari v. Govt. of UP & Ors. The Supreme Court
in this judgement laid down eight guidelines that are to be followed by the police
till date. The essential question that arose in the case of Latika Kumari was,
“whether it is binding for the police to lodge an FIR when it is informed about the
occurrence of an offence which is cognizable in nature?”. The Apex Court
affirmatively answered this question and ruled that it is obligatory for the police to
lodge an FIR on receiving information that discloses the commission of a
cognizable offence.
The Court further held that if it is clear that a cognizable offence has been
committed, the police is not required to do any kind of preliminary inquiry. It
means that the preliminary inquiry is valid merely to the extent of determining
whether the offence committed is cognizable or not. Furthermore, the Apex Court
clearly mentioned the kind of cases in which the preliminary inquiry could be
conducted by the police, which are family disputes, commercial offences, medical
negligence cases, corruption cases and cases with abnormal delay. Also, the Court
ordered that the preliminary inquiry must be started within 7 days of receiving the
information of offence.
Consequences of non-registration of FIR
The police officers who are at default regarding the refusal of registration of FIR in
case of cognizable cases may face several consequences owing to their inaction. If
no action is taken by the concerned authorities even after the aggrieved had gone
for all the above-mentioned statutory as well as judicial remedies then he may opt
for the following actions.
The aggrieved person may file a writ petition in the respective High Court for the
issuing of Writ of Mandamus against the delinquent police officers, and then the
Court would direct them to come up with the reasoning as to why they did not
lodge the report.
Another alternative that the aggrieved person could go for is to file a Writ Petition
in the respective High Court to seek compensation if such non-lodging of the
report has caused the person deprivation of his right to life and personal liberty as
guaranteed by Article 21 of our Constitution.
Additionally, the criminal law of our country also deals with this deplorable
practise which is carried out quite ordinarily these days. Section 166A of the
Indian Penal Code lays down punishment for a public servant who fails to record
information. Specifically, sub-section (3) of the section provides that failure on the
part of a public servant to register any information u/s 154(1) of the Cr.P.C. with
relation to the offences u/s 326A, 326B, 354, 354B, 370, 370A, 376, 376A,
376AB, 376B, 376C, 376D, 376DA, 376DB, 376E or 509 of the IPC, would attract
this section and the said public servant shall be punished with rigorous
imprisonment for a term which must not be less than 6 months but may extend to 2
years, and he shall also be liable to fine.
Conclusion
The practice of refusal on the part of police officers to register FIR, no matter how
barbaric it seems, is pretty common. The reasons could be many, such as
protecting the accused persons who are powerful and have high contacts or
harassing the poor victims, or irresponsible behaviour of public servants, etc.
Whatever may be the reason, it is the victim who suffers. The victim who already
has been through trauma due to the commission of an offence is put through the
whole agony once again when s/he is denied for lodging the report.
Whenever a cognizable offence is committed, the filing of an FIR is technically the
first stage for initiation of criminal proceedings, and hence the first step for seeking
justice. It means when the aggrieved person is denied to record his complaint, he is
denied justice altogether. There is no doubt that various remedies have been
provided to aggrieved persons for the said circumstances by the law, but all this
running around to seek these remedies merely to get the complaint filed sometimes
delays the justice to such an extent that it feels denied.
It is indisputable that this action of police officers is among the most atrocious
practices of our legal system because to report an offence that is committed to
someone is one of the most basic rights of that individual and ironically it is taken
away by our protectors themselves. This practice clearly leads to lawlessness and
hence it must be put an end to.
