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Task 4

The document discusses what constitutes a First Information Report (FIR) according to Section 154 of the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure. An FIR is a report filed with the police to start an investigation of a cognizable offense. It must contain information about the alleged crime and be filed with the police of the area where the offense occurred. The FIR should be filed promptly to maintain credibility and eliminate suspicious.

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Aditya Das
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16 views

Task 4

The document discusses what constitutes a First Information Report (FIR) according to Section 154 of the Indian Code of Criminal Procedure. An FIR is a report filed with the police to start an investigation of a cognizable offense. It must contain information about the alleged crime and be filed with the police of the area where the offense occurred. The FIR should be filed promptly to maintain credibility and eliminate suspicious.

Uploaded by

Aditya Das
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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First Information Report – FIR

by,

Aditya Das, Intern at ubAdvocate

(Based on the YouTube video


https://www.youtube.com/JEEVANPRAKASHADVOCATESUPREMECOURT

of Jeevan Prakash, AOR, Supreme Court

The first information report means an information recorded by a police officer on


duty given either by the aggrieved person or any other person to the commission of
an alleged offence. On the basis of first information report, the police commences
its investigation. Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 defines as
to what amounts to first information.

Section 154. Information in cognizable cases

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 the information as recorded under sub-section


(i) shall be given forthwith, free of cost, to the informant.
Any person aggrieved by a refusal on the part of an officer-
in-charge of police station to record the information referred to in sub-section (1)
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 this Code, and such officer shall have all the
powers of an officer-in-charge of the police station in relation to that offence.

The provision in section 154 regarding the reduction of oral statement to writing
and obtaining signature of the informant to it, is for the purpose of discouraging
irresponsible statement about criminal offences by fixing the informant with the
responsibility for the statement he makes.

Refusal by the informant to sign the first information is an offence punishable


under section 180 of the Indian Penal Code. The absence of signatures on the first
information report by the informant, however, is not necessary to the extent that it
will vitiate and nullify such report. The first information is still admissible in
evidence.

In order to constitute an FIR in terms of section 154 of the Code. of Criminal


Procedure, 1973 two conditions are to be fulfilled :-
(a) what is conveyed must be an information; and
(b) that information should relate to the commission of a cognizable offence on the
face of it.

In other words, FIR is only a complaint to set the affairs of law and order in motion
and it is only at the investigation stage that all the details can be gathered. In one of
the judgments, the Madhya Pradesh High Court observed that the report of the
crime which is persuading the police machinery towards starting investigation is
FIR, subsequent reports are/were written, they are not hit under section 161 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and cannot be treated as such.

Who can File an FIR : First Information Report (FIR) can be filed by any person.
He need not necessarily be the victim or the injured or an eye-witness. First
Information Report may be merely hearsay and need not necessarily be given by
the person who has first hand knowledge of the facts.

Where to File an FIR : An FIR can be filed in the police station of the concerned
area in whose jurisdiction the offence has occurred. A first are to obtain
information about the alleged criminal activity so as to be able to take suitable
steps for tracing and bringing to book the guilty person.

Its secondary though equally important object is to obtain early information of an


alleged criminal activity and to record the circumstances before the trial, lest such
circumstances are forgotten or embellished.

Why FIR should be filed promptly

This is the golden principle of law prescribed in the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1973 that the First Information Report should always be filed promptly and
without wasting any time. Such type of report gains the maximum credibility and
is always welcome and appreciated by the courts.

According to Supreme Court the FIR recorded promptly before the time afforded
to embellish or do away with the evidence is useful. It eliminates the rise o
suspicious.

Time duration for filing an FIR

We have already emphasized this fact that as far as possible and practicable, every
FIR should invariably be filed promptly, expeditiously and without wasting any
time. There may be circumstances where some concession of time must be given in
filing the FIR But there must be cogent reasons for reasonable delay in filing the
FIR under the compelling circumstances. Judges with lot of wisdom and
experience can use their discretion judiciously and in the interest of justice in each
and every case. However, no possible duration of time can be fixed for applying
the test of reasonableness to the lodging of an FIR as we have already explained. It
depends upon facts and circumstances of each case. The delay in lodging the FIR
as such is not fatal in law if the prosecution substantiated the factual difficulties
encountered by the persons lodging the report.

Following are the reports or statements which do not amount to be an FIR:

1. A report or a statement recorded after the commencement of the


investigation (sections 162 and 163 of the Code of Criminal Procedure,
1973).
2. Reports not recorded immediately but after questioning of witnesses.
3. Reports recorded after several days of developments.
4. Information not about occurrence of cognizable offence but only cryptic
message in the form of an appeal for immediate help.
5. Complaint to the Magistrate.
6. Information to beat house.
7. Information to the Magistrate or police officer on phone.
8. Information received at police station prior to the lodging of an F.LR.

It was held in Damodar v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 2003 SC 4414: 2003 AIR
SCW 5050: 2003 (4) RCR (Cri) 355 (SC) that if the information was
conveyed to police on telephone and DO entry was made, it will not
constitute an FIR even if the information disclosed commission of
cognizable offence.

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