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Wednesday 20 June 2012

Did You Know ?

  • That FIR stands for First Information Report
  • It's technically the first information, on record, regarding the commission of any offence. Hence it holds significant value in criminal investigation and the judicial process that may follow.
  • Whenever one wishes to lodge an FIR in a Police Station, he may do it in writing or orally and the Police is bound to reduce the oral information into writing verbatim, as provided by the informant. 
  • The informant must sign the FIR
  • He must be provided a copy of the FIR, free of cost, by the Police.
  • The Police cannot refuse to lodge FIR and investigate a case on the ground that it does not find from the FIR that any offence has been committed or on the ground that the offence may have been committed in another jurisdiction.
  • Whether or not a crime has actually been committed, is something which ultimately Courts decide, Police cannot decide it at the time of lodging FIR. It has to lodge FIR and start investigation.
  • So also if the crime has indeed taken place in another locality beyond the jurisdiction of that Police Station, still then the Police cannot return the informant without lodging his FIR. What is legally incumbent upon the Police is that it should lodge the FIR and then forward it to the appropriate Police Station, after following all other legal formalities.


  • Any person aggrieved by a refusal on the part of an officer in charge of a police station to record the information may send the substance of such information, in writing and by post, to the Superintendent of Police concerned, who, if satisfied that such information discloses the commission of a cognizable offence (*), shall either investigate the case himself or direct an investigation to be made by any police officer subordinate to him, in the manner provided by law.

    The aggrieved informant may in the alternative, file a complaint case before the local Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) regarding the crime, also mentioning therein the factum of refusal by Poilce to lodge his FIR.
  • Any person can lodge FIR. Its not at all necessary that the victim (s), or his relatives etc. only can lodge FIR.
  • FIR should not be cryptic and incoherent. It should clearly describe, among others, the following minimum things :-  
          a) The name and address of the informant
          b) The date, time and place of the occurrence
          c) The offence / crime that is alleged
          d) The identities of the offenders (if known to the informant)
  • FIR should be lodged without any unreasonable delay. That strengthens the case a lot during trial in Court.

(*) A cognizable offence is one in which Police has power to arrest without warrant. All cognizable offences have been listed in the First Schedule appended to our Code of Criminal Procedure. 

49 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting, Anupam... this is very informative and useful.

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  2. Very interesting rules -but they are never followed;i speak from experience.

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    1. That's the reason why I wrote this post, so that people know the alternatives.

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  3. Very informative post Anupam.. Thanks a ton!

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  4. Hi Anupam

    Thats informative but I am really skeptical if anyone with this knowledge can actually demand this from the corrupt system in our country...For instance if the person goes to a police station and demands an FIR to be lodged and in case the police refuse what can he do? No one in society would wantan adversity with the cops in India..leave alone write a letter to theSP...What if that chap is hand in hand with the police station under question? ....Most unapproachable ...Atleast thats the impression I have....

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    1. The aggrieved informant may in the alternative to writing to SP, file a complaint case before the local Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) regarding the crime, also mentioning therein the factum of refusal by Poilce to lodge his FIR. The Court will register the case and direct the concerned Police to investigate. The Police then will have no option but to investigate.

      Its a different thing that a corrupt Police would still deliberately spoil the investigation.

      The remedy to that would be to tell the Court about this fear / apprehension and the Court will then call all the witnesses that you would have named in your complaint and itself conduct an enquiry instead of directing the Police to hold investigation.. When they appear in the Court the Court will take their evidence.

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  6. Mr. Lawyer, a very strong post and one that can never be enforced upon enough.

    We as citizens should know our rights and how we should never hesitate to act on it.

    Thank you :)

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    1. That's exactly my intention, to make my dear fellow bloggers aware and expect that they in turn spread it further.

      Thanks for reading.

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  7. Thank you for a wonderful post!

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  8. Very informative indeed.I did not know even half the things you described.

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    1. I'm glad you know now, Tejas. Thanks for reading and welcome aboard !!!!!

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  9. I had the experience of an inspector trying to delay filing the FIR. Fortunately, a friend who is well informed about these processes insisted that the Inspector file the FIR and give us a copy. This was an accident case.

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    1. Good, you had a friend who could help you. I hope this information helps my readers in helping themselves even if they aren't lucky to have somebody to aid them in such situations.

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  10. Hey thanks for this. I was clueless about all this ~

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    1. Good for you Ghazala. Now it'd be great if you can further spread the awareness.

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  11. Great job, Anupam! I like the fact that you take the time to educate your readers about the esoterica of Law.

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  12. Very informative..thank you..

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  13. A very useful post Anupam. Even educated people are unaware of these facts. It's an eye opener!

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  14. Good show. Thanks for taking the trouble.

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  15. thanks for this information :)

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  16. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  17. "The Police cannot refuse to lodge FIR and investigate a case under any circumstances. Neither on the ground that it does not find from the FIR that any offence has been committed nor on the ground that the offence may have been committed in another jurisdiction."

    Did not know that!
    Very useful information, this.

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    1. This particular aspect - whether a Police Officer is bound under any circumstance to register the FIR - has been referred to a Constitution Bench of Five Supreme Court Judges in the case of Lalita Kumar Vs. Govt. of u.P. & Others quite recently. So will have to wait what the decision is of that Hon'ble Bench.

      Thanks for reading Medha

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  18. A common man is always afraid of seeking details from the police---but as they say knowledge is power, you have done a great job by sharing this vital information.

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  19. Thank you Anupam for this information. I've bookmarked your post.

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  20. Very useful post in brief. Thanks! I share it with others...

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  21. Nice information, every one should know.

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  22. Great job...and everyone should be aware of these rules!

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  23. thanks for a very informative and useful post! :)

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  24. thanks for the knowledge share ! Really educative and helping post! gr8 work !

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  25. I always thought reading blogs would be so much fun, I never thought it would be so informative too. Thank you anupam again for sharing.

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  26. Thanks everybody for reading this post. It'd be great if each of us can further spread the awareness.

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  27. Thank you Anupam to share the valuble information kindly provide the details GOI offical gazette where this information was documented .

    Bhaskar

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    1. Well, I don't know exactly vide which GOI notification the law came into force, I mean one has to find out from old archives. But what I can tell you is that Section 154 of our Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.P.C.) deals with what I've depicted. It is the nodal section which is the source of all the facts that I've mentioned.

      Ofcourse the law i.e. Section 154, Cr.P.C. was beneficially interpreted by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in several cases as a result of the negligence and high handedness of the Police authorities in certain cases which led to such interpretation. The net effect includes, though not limited to, all that I've stated in the post.

      Thanks for reading Bhaskar !!!

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  28. I didn't know half the stuff! Thank you for the informative post. :)

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    1. Thanks for reading Sudeshna. I'm glad you know these significant info. now. It'd be great if you can further spread the awareness whenever required.

      Cheers!!!

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  29. Hi Anupam, you are indeed doing a commendable job here. It is pleasing to see people taking charge of issues that really matters.
    Check out my blog http://sanki.in/. Though in a nascent stage, it too revolves around a similar theme of bringing about a change in the mindset of today's society, particularly youth, who is bent upon producing followers and workers. In case you like the posts, do spread the good word on your networks.

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  30. Hi Anupam, is there any minimum age limit for the person who wishes to lodge an FIR? What about minors - are they eligible to lodge it in cases concerning themselves?

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    1. Yeah they can. No such minimum age is there as per law. However the Police might be a little careful before acting on the version of a small child.

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  31. i just readan article jagranjunction.com nd found it worth reading... kindly go through dis link if possible http://socialissues.jagranjunction.com/2012/12/05/%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BF-%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8B-%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%BF-%E0%A4%B9%E0%A5%88-%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%B9-%E0%A4%95%E0%A5%88%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%87-%E0%A4%B0%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%AA-%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B0/

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