New Delhi, Nov. 12: Setting at rest conflicting judgments across the country, a five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court today ruled that it is mandatory for all police officers to register an FIR forthwith on receiving a complaint and that failure to do so would invite disciplinary action.
Only in certain cases where the investigating officer thinks the complaint prima facie does not disclose a cognisable offence, the officer has the discretion to conduct a preliminary inquiry to check whether any cognisable offence is involved for registering an FIR, the bench said.
If the police officer finds after the preliminary inquiry that there is no case for registering an FIR, this should be recorded in the general dairy through a closure report and a copy handed to the informant within seven days, the court said.
Preliminary inquiries can be conducted only in certain cases relating to matrimonial disputes, commercial disputes, corruption, medical negligence and in cases where an FIR is lodged after a considerably long time, the bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices B.S. Chauhan, Ranjana Prakash Desai, Ranjan Gogoi and S.S. Bobde said in a 91-page unanimous judgment.
Writing the judgment, Justice Sathasivam also laid down guidelines to be followed henceforth in terms of Section 154 CrPC, which deals with the registration of an FIR.
“Registration of FIR is mandatory under Section 154 of the Code, if the information discloses commission of a cognisable offence and no preliminary inquiry is permissible in such a situation,” the bench said.
The bench was answering a reference made to it by a two-judge bench headed by Justice B.N. Agrawal in 2008, in view of conflicting judgments by various high courts and also the Supreme Court, on whether an FIR should be registered immediately on a complaint or the investigating officer has the discretion to conduct a preliminary inquiry first.
While some courts had held that the police have the discretion in deciding on the FIR, others had insisted that it was mandatory.
The issue arose in 2008 after the father of a minor girl in Uttar Pradesh approached the apex court complaining that the police did not register a case of kidnapping on his complaint against some persons who had abducted his daughter.
The two-judge bench referred the matter to the Constitution bench. It also said in an interim direction that if steps are not taken to register FIRs immediately and copies are not handed over to the complainants, the complainants may move the magistrates concerned for appropriate directions to the police to register the case immediately and apprehend the accused, failing which, contempt proceedings must be initiated against such delinquent police officers if no sufficient cause is shown.
Today the Constitution bench, quoting the National Crime Records Bureau, said that the number of FIRs not registered is approximately equivalent to the number of FIRs actually registered.
“Keeping in view the NCRB figures that show that about 60 lakh cognisable offences were registered in India during the year 2012, the burking of crime may itself be in the range of about 60 lakh every year.
“Thus, it is seen that such a large number of FIRs are not registered every year, which is a clear violation of the rights of the victims of such a large number of crimes.
“Burking of crime leads to dilution of the rule of law in the short run; and also has a very negative impact on the rule of law in the long run since people stop having respect for rule of law. Thus, non-registration of such a large number of FIRs leads to a definite lawlessness in the society,” the bench said.
