By Joginder Sharma, Retd. Dy. Commn, Delhi Govt.
The first thing which comes to mind after the commission of a crime is seeking Police assistance. Criminal justice System comes into motion with the registration of FIR.
FIR is registered only for Cognizable offences. The list of Cognizable offences enumerated in the Indian Penal Code, 1860, is provided in the First Schedule of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
The Police may register a Non-Cognizable report in case of Non-Cognizable offences and for these offences, investigation can be initiated only after permission of Court/Magistrate under Section 155 (2) Crpc.
Let us understand this with the help of an example. Mr. X slap Mr. Y and causes him simple injury. The facts attract ingredients of Section 323 IPC which is a Non-Cognizable offence and the police will not register FIR in such cases. So does it means the victim is remedyless? The answer is “No”. The victim may file a complaint case under Section 200 Crpc before the Court of concerned Magistrate and redress his grievance.
While on the other hand if Mr X beats Mr Y with a danda and causes him simple injury, the ingredients of section 324 IPC which is cognizable offence are attracted and the police are bound to register an FIR and investigate the matter.
The test at the time of registration of FIR is is whether the complaint made to police prima facie discloses the commission of Cognzable offence and if, the answer is “Yes” the police is bound to register the case and initiate an investigation.
The Supreme Court of India in the case of Lalita Kumari Vs. Govt. of U.P. [(2014) 2 SCC 1] clarified that at the stage of registration of FIR an inquiry in to the truthfulness of the allegations made in the complaint is not permissible. It is only after investigation the SHO may be able to arrive at any conclusion about the truthfulness of the allegations or otherwise. The police cannot defer the registration of F.I.R. on the pretext that they are conducting a preliminary inquiry and will decide the fate of registration of F.I.R. only after completion of the preliminary inquiry.
In cases where the information does not disclose the commission of the cognizable offence, the police may conduct a preliminary inquiry to ascertain if a cognizable offence is made out or not. The scope of preliminary inquiry is not to verify the veracity of information received but to ascertain whether any cognizable offence is made out. A preliminary inquiry should be time-bound and should not exceed seven days.
However, there are certain category of cases in which preliminary inquiry may be made before registration of F.I.R.
a. Matrimonial Disputes/Family Disputes
b. Commercial offence.
c. Medical Negligence Cases
d. Corruption Cases
e. Cases where there are abnormal delay/latches in initiation of criminal prosecution.
The SHO concerned is duty-bound to register the F.I.R., in case the complaint received by him discloses a cognizable offense. In case the SHO does not register the FIR, the aggrieved person may approach the DCP/S.P. under Section 154 (3) Crpc and thereafter to the Court by filing an application under Section 156 (3) Crpc seeking registration of FIR.
