A SHORT NOTE ON FIR

 MEANING (FIRST INFORMATION REPORT):

• FIR is an information related to the occurrence of a cognizable offence, which is reported to the respective police officer.
• It is either reported by the victim himself/ herself or by someone on behalf of the victim. The informant need not be an eye witness of the incident.
• They must satisfy the police officer that the offence is of cognizable nature or the information provided to them should make the police officer suspect that the offence that has taken place is of cognizable nature.

MEANING OF COGNIZABLE OFFENCE:

Cognizable offence are those for which the police can arrest the accused without any warrant. They are empowered to start the investigation without any orders from the court.

MEANING OF NON-COGNIZABLE OFFENCE:

Non cognizable offence are those for which the police cant arrest without a warrant. They are not empowered to investigate the case without the court’s order.

DEFINITION OF COGNIZABLE OFFENCE:

According to section2(c) of Criminal procedure code 1973, “Cognizable offence -means an offence for which, and cognizable case means a case in which, a police officer may, in accordance with the First Schedule or under any other law for the time being in force, arrest without warrant.

• Cognizable offences are usually serious in nature.
• the punishment for cognizable offences extends more than 3 years
• it affects the society as a whole
• Some of the examples of cognizable offences are murder, theft, kidnapping and so on.

FILING AN FIR:

In order to file an FIR, the information must be orally given to the officers of police station, which shall be written by the officer himself or anyone under his direction. it should be read and signed by the informant afterwards and that information should be entered in a book known as station diary as prescribed in section 154 of CrPC this has been explained in  section 154 (1) of Criminal Procedure Code,1973, “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, and be read Over to the informant; and every such information, whether given in writing or reduced to writing as aforesaid, shall be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf.”

A copy of such information shall be given to the informant as prescribed in section 154(2) of CrPC 1973

DENIAL TO LODGE AN FIR BY THE POLICE:

If the police officer denies to record the information given by the informant, the information shall be passed to the superintendent of the police in writing or by post, and if the superintendent of police is satisfied that the offence is of cognizable nature, he shall have all the powers  vested to the police officer related to that offence.

IN CASE OF NON-COGNIZABLE OFFENCES, PROVISIONS HAVE BEEN GIVEN IN SEC 155 OF CRPC, 1973

Information as to non- cognizable cases and investigation of such cases

(1) When information is given to an officer in charge of a police station of the commission within the limits of such station of a non- cognizable offence, he shall enter or cause to be entered the substance of the information in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf, and refer the informant to the Magistrate.

(2) No police officer shall investigate a non- cognizable case without the order of a Magistrate having power to try such case or commit the case for trial.

(3) Any police officer receiving such order may exercise the same powers in respect of the investigation (except the power to arrest without warrant) as an officer in charge of a police station may exercise in a cognizable case.

(4) Where a case relates to two or more offences of which at least one is cognizable, the case shall be deemed to be a cognizable case, notwithstanding that the other offences are non- cognizable.

The term FIR has not been defined in CrPCFIR is the initial step of investigation for a case.

Things to be avoided while filing an FIR

1. information provided to the police should not be vague or ambiguous
2. False statements should not be made because one can be prosecuted for the statement of false information under sec 206 of IPC, 1860.
3. the information provided should be true to the knowledge of the informant

Filing FIR in a delayed manner

Filing the FIR immediately is a must. delaying in the process must have a valid and reasonable explanation. it is pertinent to note that filing the FIR immediately, after the occurrence of cognizable offence helps to record the information without any misunderstanding and misconceptions before the information fades away from the informant’s memory.

InRanbir Singh V The State Of Haryana, the victim was first urged to the hospital instead of  a police station because of his health conditions. hence this was considered to be a valid and reasonable explanation for filing the FIR in a delayed manner.

Things that should be recorded in an FIR,

1. Name And Address Of The Informant
2. Date, Time , Location Of The Incident
3. Details and Description of the event
4. Description Of The Person Involved

CASE LAWS RREATED TO FIR:

RAMESH KUMARI V NCT OD DELHI

In this case, the appellant approached the station house officer (SHO), since some of his articles from his own property got stolen. the SHO denied to register the complaint and then the appellant approached the high court. the high court also found it very difficult to register the complaint since it suspected the facts of the case. then the supreme court held that the case should be investigated by the central bureau of India and it also concluded that it must be finished within 3 months. it is also pertinent to note that even though the appellant had alternative remedies, it is the right of a person to file an FIR according to sec(154) of CrPC

HARPAL SINGH VS STATE OF HIMACAL PRADESH

In this case, a girl named Saroj Kumari was raped and then the family filed an FIR after 10 days. the date of the occurrence of the incident  is august 21  and the  FIR was filed on august 31. here the delay in filing fir was considered to be reasonable since the reputation of the family is involved

QUASHING OF AN FIR

various Acts have been enacted in our country in order to protect the rights of the citizens. filing an fir is also a right of a citizen which is misused by some. filing an FIR by falsely accusing person might lead to injustice. hence, in order to protect the innocents from such situation, quashing of FIR was brought into existence. this can be executed by filing a petition in the high court, and if the high court is satisfied that the accused has been falsely implicated, the FIR can be quashed.