FIRs/ First Information Reports: India
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Acting on an FIR
Person not named in FIR can be tried if evidence crops up: SC
PTI | Jan 10, 2014
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has held a person can be made an accused by the trial court in case evidence crops up during the proceedings even if he has not been named in the FIR or chargesheet.
A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said that the trial court has powers to summon a person as an accused despite his name being not mentioned by the investigators in the FIR and chargesheet.
The bench clarified that Section 319 of Criminal Procedure Code empowers the trial court to proceed against a person who appears to be guilty of offence but not named in the FIR or charge sheet.
The judgment could have implications in some cases arising out of the 2G scam in which the trial judge had summoned as accused some corporate honchos despite they being not named by CBI in the FIR and charge sheet.
The businessmen have approached the Supreme Court against the trial court's summoning order. The apex court is yet to pronounce its verdict in the case.
Witnesses and details
'= Witness not expected to recall every minute detail while lodging FIR, Bombay high court rules '
Swati Deshpande,TNN | Mar 26, 2014
MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday dismissed an appeal filed by Farman Imran Shah, an accused under the stringent law meant to curb organized crime in a Pune murder case registered at Kondhwa police station. The court said it is not expected for a complainant who has just lost her husband to remember every minute detail immediately and held that more details and names can be added in the complaint, once out of trauma.
Shah had sought a discharge citing lack of evidence, belated adding of his name by the complainant and non application of mind by the authorities who granted prior sanction to prosecute him under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA). He had challenged an order of the Pune special court passed last March which rejected his discharge plea.
The case against Shah was that he was involved in the fatal assault conspiracy on Anwar Shaikh in March 2012. At about 10.30pm on March 13 that year, Shaikh and his wife Parvin were in their car when two accused Matin sheikh and Nadir Sayyed, who were on a motorcycle, obstructed their way and other accused encircled their car. One man hurled a stone at a pane on the driver's side, others pulled out Shaikh and assaulted him. He succumbed to his injuries at a hospital. Police after investigation said it was a crime committed by an organized crime syndicate of Mohasin alias Guddu Anwar Shaikh and his associates. Shah was arraigned as accused number 12 in the case in 2012.
A bench of Justices PV Hardas and AS Gadkari while dismissing Shah's appeal on March 25 observed that, "It cannot be expected from a witness who is under the impact of a ghastly incident to give each and every minute detail when he or she is suffering from the trauma.
"It is only after the witness comes out of the trauma, that it is possible for him or her to recapitulate the details and give a detailed account to the police.
The HC said, "Non-appearance of a name of an accused while lodging an FIR does not vitiate it, neither can an inference be drawn that such an accused had not participated in the crime at all. It rejected Shah's claim that his name was added later in the complaint as an "afterthought which indicates he was not involved. The court also found nothing wrong in the prior sanction granted to prosecute him under MCOCA and said the prosecution must be given a chance to lead evidence during trial in the case.
FIR is not “gospel truth“
`Just FIR can't be reason to expel student', Oct 15 2017: The Times of India
The Bombay high court quashed an order passed by a college expelling a computer engineering student, observing that an FIR cannot be treated as “gospel truth“ and cannot be a reason for expulsion.
A division bench quashed and set aside an August 5 order passed by Mukesh Patel School of Technology Management and Engineering College affiliated to Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies expelling the 21year-old student.
FIRs be made public, uploaded within 24 hours
The Times of India, Sep 08 2016
AmitAnand Choudhary
FIRs must be made public, uploaded within 24 hours: SC
The Supreme Court ruled that an FIR (first information report) must be made public within 24 hours of its registration. It is being seen as a major step to boost transparency in criminal investigations and check harassment of the accused by police.
A bench of Justices Dipak Misra and C Nagappan directed states and Union territories to ensure that contents of an FIR are uploaded on official websites of the state police or state governments within 24 hours. It, however, said its order wouldn't be applicable in sensitive cases like offences pertaining to sexual violence, terrorism and insurgency where disclosure of infor mation could affect the case.
Setting a deadline of November 15 for compliance, the court held that an FIR is a public rather than privileged account, the contents of which should be brought into public domain. The bench noted that it was very difficult for an accused to get access to FIR and this affects his right to defend himself. Uploading the FIR would serve a larger public interest, said the bench.
“The copies of the FIR, unless reason is recorded that the offence is sensitive in nature, should be uploaded on the official websites of police or state governments within 24 hours so that the accused or any person connected with the same can download it and file application before court as per law for redressal of his grievances,“ it said.
Holding that a person who is booked under criminal law has a right to know the nature of allegations to take necessary steps to safeguard his liberty , the court said fair and impartial probe is a part of an accused's fundamental rights. It said that presumption of innocence of an accused is also his human right which cannot be violated by pursuing a secret and opaque procedure. Taking into account network problem in hilly states, the court said the states of Nagaland, Manipur, Sikkim and Jammu & Kasmir will have 48 hours within which they must upload FIRs.
The court held that decision not to upload FIR because of sensitiveness of a case must be taken by a police officer not below the rank of deputy superintendent of police (DSP).“The decision not to upload the copy of the FIR on the website shall not be taken by an officer below the rank of DSP and that too by way of a speaking order.A decision so taken by police shall also be duly communicated to the area magistrate,“ it said. Praising the decision of the court, senior advocate Ajit Sinha said the court`s decision has put the probe under public scrutiny and people could find out whether police is acting or sitting idle. “It is a very positive and effective decision to bring transparency and accountability in the organisation.“
Justice Mishra had passed a similar order in 2010 when he was the Chief Justice of the Delhi high court but the order has not been complied with in letter and spirit.
Delayed FIRs
Police delay FIRs in 69% of disputes
Police delay FIRs in 69% of disputes, reveals survey, November 25, 2017: The Times of India
Police personnel are not keen on registering FIRs in disputes, according to a survey by a Bengaluru-based NGO.
NGO Daksh’s Access to Justice Survey 2017 conducted among 45,551 households in the country and released here on Friday found that police did not register an FIR immediately in 69% of disputes.
Asked about the reasons cited by police for not registering an FIR, respondents in 37% of the cases said the police wanted them to compromise with the other party. The other reasons include: police did not believe me (21%), police did not give a reason (19%), police said it is better for me not to file a case (14%) and police did not think the dispute was serious (8%).
The survey also found that the maximum number of legal disputes in the country are related to recovery of money (30.2%), followed by land/property (29.3%), family (13.5%), insurance (9.1%) and motor vehicle accidents/ compensation (9.1%). Of the total land disputes, 71% are about agricultural land and 22% non-agricultural land.
Asked for reasons for not going to court, 44.5% said the other party opted for a non-judicial method. As many as 26.8% who did not approach courts said the cost of litigation is too high.
Another 21.5% said that they did not know how to file a case since the legal system is too complex, while 17.3% of the respondents said cases takes too long to be resolved in court.
37% of respondents surveyed said the police wanted them to compromise with the other party instead
Persian, Urdu words discontinued in Haryana
Haryana cops to drop Persian, Urdu words from FIRs
Anita Singh TNN 2013/06/27
Karnal: In an effort to simplify Daily Diary Reports and First Information Reports, Haryana police have decided to do away with archaic and difficult words and phrases from Persian and Urdu languages.
These have been in use in Haryana since the pre-Independence period. Words like muddayi (complainant), muddala (accused), tameel (execution), aala-e-qatal (murder weapon), taftish (investigation), to name a few, baffle complainants when they are handed a copy of the FIR.
The head of the state crime records bureau, said the department has initiated the move to incorporate simple Hindi words in the complaints.
