FIR (First Information Report) can be lodged through magistrate courts with Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 and through various commissions using related laws-The organization has observed the fact that many people face the problem of refusal or inordinate delay for lodging the First Information Report (FIR) by the police department in spite of the fact that the prima facie facts and evidences lead to the occurrence of the serious offences including cognizable offences declared under the Indian Penal Code of 1860 as well as other existing laws. Unfortunately many people for want of legal remedies do not pursue their issues thereafter.
Hence the organization has decided to publish this article about the important legal remedies under the the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 and also about the various authorities and commissions which are extremely useful to get the First Information Report (FIR) lodged post criminal complaint and inaction of police. We believe that common people, if use these legal remedies diligently, can with or without hiring a lawyer get the First Information Report (FIR) lodged in the events of refusal or inordinate delay by the police department.
This article will be helpful for the common people who want to lodge the First Information Report (FIR) post a criminal complaint where the facts or the evidences lead to prima facie occurrence of an offence however in spite of this fact, the local police officer or the police administration refuse or make inordinate delays to lodge an FIR on pretext of false information or misleading reasons like ‘ongoing pending investigations’, ‘work related issues’ etc.
1) Legal Remedies- Under these circumstances the common people may resort to the 2 very important legal remedies as explained below-
A) Filing Private Complaint under section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 before the magistrate (with or without hiring a lawyer) ,
B) By filing complaints before the various Commissions & the Police Complaints Authorities.
2) Types of Offences-
Before explaining the 2 legal remedies above mentioned, it is important to to explain the types of offence very briefly as follows-
a) Cognizable offence-
These are serious offences & police are bound to take immediate cognizance which include very serious crimes declared under the Indian Penal Code 1860 like robbery, theft, extortion, kidnapping & even the cognizable offences declared in other laws e.g. like collection of capitation, illegal and excessive fees by the educational institutions in State of Maharashtra as declared under the provisions of The Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Prohibition of Capitation Fee) Act 1987, The Maharashtra Educational Institutions Regulation of Fee Act 2011 etc. The police can arrest in such cases without warrant and are duty bound to provide the copy of the First Information Report (FIR) free of cost to the concerned person post lodging of the First Information Report (FIR).
b) Non cognizable offence-
These are less serious offences like simple hurt, nuisance, assault. The police cannot arrest without a permission from the court in such matters.
3) Must follow process before proceeding to take legal action to lodge an FIR post criminal complaint-
It is of utmost importance that the complainant should take the following steps prior moving before the magistrate Court or appropriate Commissions or Police Complaints Authority-
a) Written Complaint to The Police Department and It’s Acknowledgement-
Most most of the time it happens that the police department refuse to lodge an FIR and also refuse to take the complaint and its acknowledgement. Under these circumstances the common people should make written application to the concerned police station and ask for the acknowledgement which includes seal of the police department, particulars of the date along with the time and also the signature of the the concerned police officer deputed for this purpose. It is again important to note that if the the police department refuses to give the acknowledgement to the complainant the complainant should immediately send the copy of the complaint through the Registered AD system of the post office in addition to the email to the the concerned police officer or his departmental email, if the same is available.
b) Complaints to Superintendent of Police & Other Senior Police Officers is Must Before Moving to Courts or Commissions-
The most important or crucial part is that even after the submission of the criminal complaint before the concerned police station or police officer, the copy of the complaint must be submitted before the the senior police officers having not below the rank of Superintendent of Police also, otherwise concerned Court, Commissions or authority may refuse to take the cognizance and the precious time in such matter is lost.
4) Detailed Explanation of Legal Remedies for the Common People for Lodging of First Information Report (FIR)-
As above mentioned there are two important legal remedies as follows-
A) By Filing ‘Private Complaint’ under section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 before the magistrate (with or without hiring a lawyer)-
i) The most people do not know the fact that if the police administration does not take the cognizance of the criminal complaint they can move to the the local magistrate court under section 156 (3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 which is known as ‘Private Complaint’ and that the courts mostly in very reasonable time can take the cognizance and direct the police administration to lodge the First Information Report (FIR) if the magistrate court is satisfied about the prima facie occurence of an offence & need of its investigation.
ii) The police administration is legally bound to lodge First Information Report (FIR) immediately after the magistrate courts orders so, and if no FIR is lodged even after the order of the magistrate court, then penal action can be taken against such errant police officer.
iii) By hiring Lawyer or In Person-
The common people can approach the magistrate directly with or without lawyer. The most important aspect of the section 156(3) of Code of Criminal Procedure 1973 is that it does not specify any complicated legal format or procedure to approach the local magistrate. Hence the common people can directly approach the magistrate with simple criminal complaint application also. However such applications may get rejected if they are not filed with due diligence and hence we appeal the people to read the following article which we believe that it if complaints are filed by the common people under the following format, chances to get the favorable order shall stand very high. The link of the article above mentioned is as follows-
How to File Complaint at Authorities, Courts & Commissions Without Lawyer
Important- However we clarify that filing the cases without hiring a lawyer should be avoided as far as possible especially in criminal matters and that it should be done only if there are inevitable reasons. Even while filing a criminal case without lawyer, the complainant should be filed in prior consultation with the lawyers as it would remove most of the technical as well as statutory errors at very reasonable fees. Also the time to time guidance with the each and every stages is also recommended which would make the complicated procedural aspects easy.
B) By filing complaints before the various Commissions & the Police Complaints Authorities-
The common people can approach to many commissions like Human Rights Commissions, Child Rights Commissions, Women Commissions etc. & also as the matters deals with the police inaction in this matter, there is tremendous ignorance about the fact that after the historic judgement of the supreme court in the year 2006 the establishments of the Police Complaints Authority have been made mandatory all over the states at district and state levels. These authorities are headed by the retired judges of the High Courts & District Courts and have been vested with strong powers. The readers can read the detailed article about the same through the following link-
Police Complaints Authority- Legal Remedy Against Corrupt & Inefficient Police
We hope and believe if people use these remedies diligently, they can get the First Information Report (FIR) lodged in matters where police administration refuses or makes an inordinate delay on pretext of false and misleading grounds in spite of the fact that facts and evidences lead to prima facie occurrence of an offence…Jaihind!
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-Adv.Siddharthshankar Sharma
Founder President-Bharatiya Krantikari Sangathan
Disclaimer- None of the authors, contributors, administrators, or anyone else connected with this website, in any way whatsoever, can be responsible for your use of the information contained in or linked from these web pages. The visitors are advised to take the opinion of their learned counsels before proceeding & relying upon the information above given before approaching any authority, court or commissions.
Very very useful information Siddharth.. great work. God bless you lots.