Mighty F.I.R -- Police can’t delay FIR if congnisable offence is disclosed

The police must compulsorily register the First Information Report on receiving a complaint if the information discloses a cognisable offence, and no preliminary inquiry is permissible, in such a situation, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday. If the information does not disclose a cognisable offence but indicates the necessity for an inquiry, "a preliminary inquiry may be conducted only to ascertain whether a cognisable offence is disclosed or not," said a Constitution-Bench of Chief Justice P. Sathasivam and Justices B.S. Chauhan, Ranjana Desai, Ranjan Gogoi and S.A. Bobde. Since conflicting judgments had been given by courts on the issue, the matter was referred to the five-judge Bench for an authoritative ruling. "In cases where in preliminary inquiry ends in closing of the complaint, a copy of the entry of such closure must be supplied to the first informant forthwith and not later than a week. It must also disclose reasons in brief for closing the complaint..." The Bench said: "The police officer cannot avoid his duty of registering offence, if cognisable offence is disclosed. Action must be taken against officers who do not register the FIR if the information received by him/ her discloses a cognisable offence. The scope of preliminary inquiry is not to verify ... the information but to ascertain whether it reveals any cognisable offence." As the General Diary/Station Diary/Daily Diary was the record of all information received at a police station, all information on cognisable offences, whether they resulted in registration of an FIR or led to an inquiry, must be mandatorily and meticulously reflected in it, the Bench said. Compulsory registration of the FIR was to ensure transparency not only in the criminal justice delivery sys-tern but also "judicial oversight." (November.13, 2013 Hindu) Let us hope atleast this direction of the Apex Court is seriously taken and acted upon by the police authorities without fail. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++