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FIR AND ZERO FIR UNDER CrPC

FIRST INFORMATION REPORT

 MEANING OF AN FIR
An FIR (First Information Report) is the earliest form and the first information of a
cognizable offence recorded by an officer-in-charge of a police station. The underlying
reason for documenting an FIR is to a set criminal law into motion and not to express all the
small details therein.
Though this term is not used in the Criminal Procedure Code however, ‘An information
given under sub-section (1) of section 154 CrPC is commonly known as first information
report (FIR)’
The information given to the Police Officer for registration of a case must be authentic and
bona fide. It should be traceable to an individual who should be responsible for imparting
information and not be gossip. It may or may not be hearsay but the person who reports of
the said hearsay should take responsibility for it and mention the source of information.   FIR
should not be result of an irresponsible rumour. 

If the information given by the woman against whom an offence u/s 326A,326 B ,354 ,
354A-D,376,376A-E and 509 of Indian Penal Code is alleged then such information shall be
recorded by a women police officer. 

 Meaning of Cognizable Offence:

An offence in which the police officer has the supreme authority of arresting without a
warrant and to be able to start an investigation with or without the permission of the court is
termed as a cognizable offence.1
 Who can lodge a FIR? 
FIR can be filed by the following persons:
1. By an aggrieved person or somebody on his behalf.
2. Any person who is aware of the offence by being either:
 An eye witness and/or

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 Hearsay account.
3. By the accused himself.
4. By the SHO on his own knowledge or information even when a cognizable offence is
committed in view of an officer in charge he can register a case himself however he is
not bound to take down in writing any information and even if the information is only
by a medical certificate upon arrival of the injured, then the (SHO) should enter it in
daily diary and go to hospital for recording detailed statement of injured.
In all the cases the information must be definite, not vague, authentic, not baseless, gossip or
rumour, clearly making out a cognizable case. It is to be kept in mind that the person
delivering the hearsay is required to mention the source of his information and submit it
along with his/her signature to prevent it from amounting to false rumour.  

“Section 154 does not require that the Report must be given by a person who has personal
knowledge of the incident reported. The section speaks of information relating to the
commission of a cognizable offence given to an officer in charge of a police station”.2

The police are obliged to read the FIR back to the complainant in case it is conversed to them
orally to prevent the possibility of any differences in the oral and the written versions.
Further it is the duty of the complainant to report to the police station in person in case he
had given the information on a telephone.

Tohal Singh vs. State of Rajasthan3 “if the telephonic message has been given to officer in
charge of a police station, the person giving the message is an ascertained one or is capable
of being ascertained the information has been reduced to writing as required under S.154 of
CrPC and it is faithful record of such information and the information discloses commission
of a cognizable offence and is not cryptic one or incomplete in essential details, it would
constitute FIR”.

2
Hallu vs. State of M.P, 1974 AIR 1936

3
1989 Cri LJ 1350 (Raj HC )

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 Refusal to Lodge an FIR by the Police

1. If the concerned officer in charge refuses to register a first information report about
commission of a cognizable offence within his territorial jurisdiction under Sec.
154(3), the informant can approach the Superintendent of Police or the Commissioner
of the police with a written complaint. If, upon analysis of the complaint, the S.P. of
the Commissioner is satisfied that it discloses a cognizable offence, he may either
investigate the case himself or direct his subordinate to register the FIR and initiate
investigation in the matter.
2. If the above listed remedies go in vain, the informant is legally entitled to file a
complaint to the Judicial Magistrate/ Metropolitan Magistrate u/s 156(3) read with
Sec. 190 of the criminal procedure thereby praying FIR to be registered by the police
and investigation into the matter. A Writ Petition in the respective High Court may be
filed for the issuance of Writ of Mandamus against the defaulting Police officers,
inter alia, to Register the FIR and directing him to show cause (a) why he has not
registered the FIR; (b) why disciplinary proceedings for “Misconduct” should not be
initiated against him for dereliction of duty; (c) why he should not be suspended from
Police service for interfering in the administration of justice and shielding the accused
person. In a civil matter, a contempt petition can be filed before the High Court
against the officer who refused to lodge an FIR Hon’ble Supreme Court, recently, in
Lalita Kumari case, has held that the Police must register FIR where the complaint
discloses a cognizable offence.
3. Refusing to register an FIR on jurisdictional ground could now cost a policeman a
year in jail.[34]A Letter Petition may be logged and submitted to the Chief Justice
of the concerned High Court / Chief Justice of India, Supreme Court, praying
them to take Su Moto Cognizance of the alleged contempt of the Court. Further, a
copy of said letter may be sent to the concerned Police Officer. The status of such
letter petition can be inquired through an application under the Right to
Information (RTI).
4. A Writ Petition may be filed in respective High Court for seeking
damages/compensation, if the inaction of the Police on the complaint/non-
registration of FIR, has resulted in frustration/deprivation of ―life and liberty‖ of
any person, guaranteed under Article 21 of Constitution of India.[35]

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5. Also, u/s 166A(c), if the Public servant concerned fails to record any information
given to him under sub-section (1) of section 154 of the Code of Criminal
Procedure, 1973, in relation to cognizable offence punishable under section 326A,
section 326B, section 354, section 354B, section 370, section 370A, section 376,
section 376A, section 376B, section 376C, section 376D, section 376E or section
509 of the Indian Penal Code, he is punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a
term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years,
and shall also be liable to fine.

 JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMETN

State of A.P. vs. Punati Ramulu 4, Sometimes, the police may refuse to lodge a first
information report. This can be both legal and illegal. In cases where they don’t have
jurisdiction or is not in their legal capacity to take cognizance or the offence is of non-
cognizable nature, it will be held legal. But where police refuses to file the complaint for
blatant reasons, without any substantial legal ground, it is contrary to law. When a police
officer refuses to register the FIR on the ground that it discloses a non-cognizable offence, he
must inform the informant and direct him to file a complaint to the magistrate. In case the
offence committed is beyond the territorial jurisdiction of a police station, information should
be recorded and forwarded to the appropriate police-station having jurisdiction, otherwise
refusing to record on this ground will amount to dereliction of duty.

In Kathiravan vs. State, the court held that: “It is quite obvious that the officer in-
charge of the police station, on receipt of a complaint (information) disclosing
commission of a cognizable offence, is duty bound to register a case and such officer
cannot probe into the allegations to find out whether they are true or not before
registering a case. However, it does not mean that in no case the officer in-charge of the
police station can conduct a preliminary enquiry to make a decision as to whether a case
can be registered for being investigated upon in accordance with the provisions of
Cr.P.C. But such cases are only exceptions to the general rule. Such exception should not
be generalised by the police to say that the police do have a discretion either to register

4
AIR 1993 SC 2644; 1993 Cr LJ 3684

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the case or to conduct a preliminary enquiry to make a decision whether to register a case
or not”.

Lalita Kumari v Govt. of Uttar Pradesh5

Facts
The facts of the case go like this -The present writ petition was filed by Lalita Kumari
through her father for the issuance of a writ of Habeas Corpus for the protection of his
daughter who has been kidnapped. On 11.05.2008, a written report was submitted by the
petitioner before the officer-in-charge of the police station but no action was taken by the so
called official’s .Hence the Superintendent of Police was approached for a FIR and then he
registered it. However no course was taken by the police authorities to recover the kidnapped
daughter or to apprehend the accused.
Issue:
The main issue which stood in front of the court was whether a police officer is bound under
section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 to register an FIR upon receiving any
information relating to the commission of a cognizable or does the police officer has the
power to conduct a preliminary inquiry in order to test the veracity of such information
before registering the same?
Decision by Supreme Court
Directions to be followed in regards to Registration of an FIR, are discussed below:
1. It is mandatory under section 154 of the Code to get a   FIR registered, if the
information discloses commission of a cognizable offence and no preliminary inquiry
is permissible in such a situation.
2. A preliminary inquiry may be conducted only to ascertain whether cognizable offence
is disclosed or not, in case the information received does not disclose a cognizable
offence but indicates the necessity for an inquiry,
3. FIR must be registered, if the inquiry discloses the commission of a cognizable
offence. A copy of the entry of such closure must be supplied to the first informant
forthwith and not later than one week in cases where preliminary inquiry ends in
closing the complaint. Reasons must be disclosed and stated in brief for the complaint
being closed and not being proceeded further.

5
(2014) 2 SCC 1
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4. No police officer can avoid his duty of registering offence if cognizable offence has
been committed and is hence disclosed. Strict steps must be taken against erring
officers who do not register the FIR in case of cognizable offences.
5. The scope of preliminary inquiry is only to ascertain whether the information reveals
any cognizable offence and not to verify the veracity of the information received.

6. The category of cases in which preliminary inquiry may be made are as under- 
(a) Cases of Matrimonial disputes family disputes 
(b) Matters of Commercial offences 
(c) Cases involving medical negligence.
(d) Matters of Corruption cases 
(e) Abnormal delayed cases where in initiating criminal prosecution, for example,
over 3 months have already passed.
The above are non-exhaustive conditions.
7. A preliminary inquiry should be made time bound and in any case it should not
exceed 7 days while ensuring and protecting the rights of the accused and the
complainant. Any reason or fact of such delay must be reflected in the General Diary
entry.
8. It is a mandatory practice as directed by the Supreme Court that since the General
Diary/Station Diary/Daily Diary is the record of all information received in a police
station, all information relating to cognizable offences, either resulting in registration
of FIR or leading to an inquiry, must be meticulously reflected in the diary, no matter
even if it is a preliminary inquiry. 

ZERO FIRST INFORMATION REPORT

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CONCEPT OF ZERO FIR

The notion of Zero FIR is to institute a jurisdiction free FIR. It was introduced by the
recommendation of the Justice Verma Committee in the Criminal Law Amendment Act,
2013 after the ghastly Delhi rape case. The Amendment was passed by the Lok Sabha on 19
March, 2013 and by the Rajya Sabha on 21 March, 2013 and received the President’s assent
on 2 April, 2013 and is deemed to have come into force from the 3rd day of February,
2013.The 2012 Rape case led to several legal consequences through the Criminal Law
Amendment, one of which was the concept of Zero FIR.

Registering an FIR was made mandatory for the police after the Amendment. ‘No
police officer can refuse to register an FIR, if the offence being reported occurred outside
their police station’s jurisdiction. He/ She is bound to register the FIR (this is called a zero
FIR) and forward it to the concerned police station.’

Generally when a police station registers an FIR, the police officer awards each FIR a serial
number and registers it. But, in case of a Zero FIR, the FIR doesn’t get numbered or gets
numbered as ‘0’. Upon registering it in a police station other than the jurisdictional police
station, it gets transferred to the station with competent jurisdiction after conducting a
preface investigation. This is how it gets the name ‘Zero’ FIR.

 Meaning of Zero FIR:

An FIR that can be filed at any police station irrespective of the place of crime and area of
jurisdiction is referred to as a Zero FIR. The FIR that is registered at the police station
regardless of place of incidence or jurisdiction will later be transferred to the police station
that has competent jurisdiction upon conducting preliminary investigation.6

The police cannot claim ‘lack of jurisdiction’ to register an FIR and they are also urged to
conduct a prelude investigation despite lack of jurisdiction. This is done in order to ensure
that the evidence in certain cases involving offences of Sexual abuse or Road accidents is
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collected at the right time and isn’t lost. Protection of evidence from manipulation and
corruption is extremely vital in such situations, therefore the concept of Zero FIR becomes
beneficial. Crimes like murder, rape and accidents require immediate action from the
concerned police authorities so that they take appropriate samples, eye witnesses and other
circumstantial details. Zero FIR allows the authorities to pen down the initial action taken
rather than trying to figure out what had happened at the crime scene initially.

 Legal provisions for Zero FIR:

There is no explicit provision in the Code of Criminal Procedure to accommodate Zero FIR.
 However, Section 460 of the Code talks about ‘Irregularities which do not vitiate
proceedings’, Clause (e) of the section states that If any Magistrate is not
empowered by law to take cognizance of an offence under clause (a) or clause (b)
of sub- section (1) of section 190 and takes a cognizance of the offence
irrespective of this, such a proceeding shall not be set aside merely on the ground
that the Magistrate did not have jurisdiction to entertain the same.
 Under clause (c) of section 166 of Indian Penal Code, if any public servant fails to
record any information given to him under sub-section (1) of section 154 of the
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, in relation to cognizable offence … shall be
punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six
months but which may extend to two years, and shall also be liable to fine.

 What is the procedure to file a Zero FIR?

A Zero FIR is filed just like any other FIR. It can be filed by complying with the provisions
of Section 154 of the Code.
 If the information is given orally, it should be reduced to writing.
 If it is in writing, it shall be signed by the Informant.
 The information shall be read over to the Informant so it can be verified.
 It shall then be recorded in the ‘station house diary’ or ‘case diary’ as prescribed
by the State government.

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 The copy of the information as taken down in writing shall be given to the
Informant free of cost.7

JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENT

In the case of Lalitha Kumari vs. State of UP8, the Court laid down certain guidelines with
respect to registering an FIR. It is established that if the offence in the First Information is
known to be cognizable, then the Police cannot refuse to register the FIR, registration of such
an FIR is mandatory.

In State of Andhra Pradesh v. Punati Ramulu and Others 9, where the constable refused to
lodge the FIR by the informant who was the nephew of the deceased and an eye witness of
the crime on the grounds of jurisdictional limitations, the court observed the failure of duty
of the police constable and emphasized on his legal obligation to record the information and
then transfer it to the competent police station.

In the case of Kirti Vashisht v. State &Ors., The Delhi High Court observed as follows,
“As per section 154 Cr.P.C., if any information relating to the commission of a cognizable
offence is received by any Police Station, the said Police Station is duty bound to register the
FIR. However, if the crime is not occurred in the jurisdiction of the said Police Station, then
after registering the ‘Zero FIR’, the same has to be transferred to the concerned Police
Station for investigation, where the offence has been committed… A Zero FIR can be filed in
any police station by the victim, irrespective of their residence or the place of occurrence of
crime.”

CONCLUSION

Zero FIR is therefore a free jurisdictional FIR. It ensures that persons with information
regarding commission of a cognizable offence are sufficiently heard and are not turned down
with the excuse of ‘lack of jurisdiction’. It also ensures that everything possible is
sufficiently done by a Police officer towards securing justice for the victims of the alleged
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8
(2004) 2 SCC 1
9
AIR 2993 2644

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offence. No complaint can be dismissed merely on the ground of a police station not being
within the jurisdictional limits of the place of commission of an offence. This secures
collection of evidence in cases where immediate attention by the police is required.

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