CRPC
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F
INFORMATION
REPORT
An information given under sub-
section (1) of Section 154 of CrPC is
commonly known as FIR.It is the
earliest and the first information of a
cognizable offence recorded by an
officer-in-charge of a police station.It
sets the criminal law in motion and
start the investigation and results in
submission of the charge sheet u/s 173
of CrPC after completion of the
investigation.
ESSENTIALS OF FIR
*It must be the first instance of
reporting.
*It must be related to the commission
of a cognizable offence.
*It must be made to the officer in
charge of a police station.
* The information may be given orally
or in writing.
*It must be signed or marked by the
informant.
* If it is orally recorded,it must be
reduced to writing.
* A copy of the FIR shall be given free
of cost to the informant.
If the information is given by a
womanalleging an offence u/s-326 A,
326 B,354,354A-D,376,376 A-E AND 509
OF IPC such information shall be
recorded by women police officer or
any women officer. Further, provided
that the offence has been committed
or attempt has beenmade on
temporarily or permanently(mentally
or physically) disabled person then
such information shall be received by
a police officer at the residence of that
person seeking to report such offence
or at the placeconvenient to such
person in presence of interpreter or a
special educator. Recording of such
information shall be through
videography.
EVIDENTIARY
VALUE OF F.I.R
*The value of F.I.R depends on the
circumstances of each case, nature of
the crime, information and
opportunity of witnessing the offence
(AIR 1973 SC 476)
*F. I. R. is not a substantive piece of
evidence. It can be used either for
corroboration under Section 157, or
for contradiction under Section 145 of
the Evidence Act, of the maker of the
statement. (State Of Orissa vs.
Chakradhar Behera And Ors, AIR 1964
Ori 262,)
*F.I.R can be used to prove motive,
prove previous conduct of accused.
* F.I.R can be used for cross-
examination of informant who gave
such information.
*For refreshing informer's memory.
For impeaching the credit of an
informer. For proving informer's
conduct.
* For establishing identity of accused,
witnesses & for fixing spot time as
relevant facts u/s 9 Evidence Act.
WHO CAN LODGE
AN F.I.R?
An FIR can be lodged by the victim, a
witness to the incident, or any person
with knowledge of the incident. A
police officer who come to know the
commission of the cognizable offence
can file an FIR.
DELAY OF LODGING
OF FIR?
The law has not fixed any time for
lodging the FIR. As per the law, the
first information report is to be
registered as soon as possible so that
no time is wasted and the culprit is
caught timely and no danger is
present to others. FIR is an
information of first in point of time.
Delay result in embellishment, and
danger of introducing of the colour
version. Delay in lodging FIR without
satisfactory explanation is looked
upon with the grave suspicion
because there are chance of
fabrication. Whenever there is a delay
it must be properly explained.
In Bathula Nagamalleswara Rao &Ors.
vs. State Rep. By Public Prosecutor, the
Apex Court held that: Delay in lodging
of FIR, if justifiably explained, will not
be fatal. An undue delay in lodging a
First Information Report is always
looked upon with a certain amount of
suspicion and should as far as possible
be avoided'.
In Harpal Singh vs. state of HP AIR
1981 SC 361 Delay of 10 days in
lodging fir was consider to be justified
in rape case as the ground was
prestige of the family.
WHAT ABOUT F.I.R
ON TELEPHONE OR
TELEGRAM OR
EMAIL?
Legally a case may not be registered-
(a) as there is always a doubt about its
authenticity
(b) as it does not satisfy the tests of
Section 154 Criminal Procedure Code
being not an oral statement reduced
into writing; read over, admitted
correct and signed by the informer.
Message to the police on telephone
that an injured person was lying
amount to FIR (Sukharam Vs. State of
Maharashtra (1969) 3 SCC, 730).
Any person who is victim of an
offence or who is a witness to any
such offence or who has knowledge
about the commission of any such
offence can lodge an F.I.R. The FIR can
be got recorded on telephone or even
through e-mail and it is not necessary
for the informer to be present
personally before the police for
registration of FIR.
Depends on the facts of each case. If
not vague it can be treated as FIR.
A message sent by telephone to the
police officer and recorded by him in
his station diary, which discloses an
information regarding a cognizable
offense, is First Information Report. If
the telephonic message by any person
is not recorded by the police inspector
into writing and signed duly, it will
not be considered as a First
Information Report. At many police
stations in India, even an email or
WhatsApp message can be registered
as a First Information Report,
provided they are not vague and
comes under the ambit of information
as provided in section 154.
CAN YOUR LATER
VERSION BECOME
AN F.I.R
FIR will remain the same on which
the investigation was started. The
later statement being during
investigation, even if found true
cannot become F.I.R When facts
disclose prima facie cognizable case
and also disclose remarkable identity
between two FIRs as if the first FIR is
filed second time with no change in
allegations then Court may, in
appropriate case, consider it proper to
quash the second FIR. (2018(1)
Criminal Court Cases 001 (S.C.)
WHAT TO DO IF
POLICE REFUSES
TO REGISTER FIR
It is a common notion that people are
often refused an FIR registration. If
you are reporting a crime and the
police denies to register your FIR on
unreasonable grounds, you can make
a complaint to a higher-ranking
officer. If the Police still deny lodging
your FIR, you can make a formal
complaint to the nearest judicial
magistrate, who will direct the police
to register the FIR if deemed
necessary.
CAN THE POLICE
REFUSE TO FILE
COMPLAINT?
A police officer can refuse to file your
complaint if he believes the case is of
petty issue or also if they don’t have
the territorial jurisdiction in such
cases. Crimes are generally segregated
into 'cognizable' and 'non-cognizable'
offences. FIRs are lodged only for
cognizable crimes, for non-cognizable
crimes a complaint is submitted to the
magistrate who in return directs the
police for action. Ifa person has a
grievance that the police station is not
registration his FIR U/S=154 CR.P.C.
then he can approach the
Superintendent of Police u/s 154 (3) of
Cr.P.C.. Even if that does not yield any
satisfied result, he can file an
application u/s156 (3) before the
magistrate. The magistrate can direct
the fir to be registered and also can
direct a proper investigation to be
made.
SUPREME COURT
GUIDELINES ON FIR
Lalita Kumari v Government of Uttar
Pradesh and Others.
*Registration of FIR is mandatory
under Section 154 of the Code
*If the information received does not
disclose a cognizable offence but
indicates the necessity for an inquiry,
a preliminary inquiry may be
conducted only to ascertain whether
cognizable offence is disclosed or not.
*If the inquiry discloses the
commission of a cognizable offence,
the FIR must be registered. In cases
where preliminary inquiry ends in
closing the complaint, a copy of the
entry of such closure must be supplied
to the first informant forthwith and
not later than one week. It must
disclose reasons in brief for closing
the complaint and not proceeding
further.
*The police officer cannot avoid his
duty of registering offence if
cognizable offence is disclosed. Action
must be taken against erring officers
who do not register the FIR if
information received by him discloses
a cognizable offence.
*As to what type and in which cases
preliminary inquiry is to be
conducted will depend on the facts
and circumstances of each case. The
category of cases in which
preliminary inquiry may be made are
as under:
a) Matrimonial disputes/ family
disputes b) Commercial offences c)
Medical negligence cases d)
Corruption cases e) Cases where there
is abnormal delay/laches in initiating
criminal prosecution
Zero FIR
A Zero FIR allows for any police
station to register an FIR, regardless of
their jurisdictional area. It is usually
used for crimes such as murder and
rape and other cognizable offences,
i.e. an offence for which police can
take action without prior court
approval. Initial action and
investigation are conducted before it
is transferred to the appropriate
jurisdictional station as required. It is
helpful for crimes that require an
immediate response.
