This is a problem that almost all of us have faced one time or the other, police’s reluctance to register FIR (First Information Report). Police normally takes a complaint makes a Daily Diary entry (DD), but this is not an FIR, and the police officers are legally under no duty to investigate the matter further. Only FIR sets the criminal law machinery into motion, where the police are obligated to investigate, apprehend offenders, collect evidence and apprise the area magistrate.

But note this they are obliged to do in case your complaint discloses a cognizable offence. For a list of cognizable offences see : http://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/CrPc/sSCI.htm

But to keep their crime graph down, and in the absence of any zeal to actually work – registration of an FIR is quite an ordeal for the layman !

So here is what you do – if FIR is not registered –

1. Go to the SP/ACP of your area – with a written complaint;
if that also fails;
2. File a 156(3) CrPC complaint before the magistrate – who if he finds your complaint to have disclosed a cognizable offence would order police investigation and FIR.

Supreme Court has time and again held that whether there is great merit in a complaint is a POST FIR QUESTION and would come out only after it is investigated upon. Police officer is duty bound to register FIR.

 

*Criminal Law simplified by Advocate Bharat Chugh