FIR must in cases relating to Cognizable Offences: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court recently ruled that 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 court also said that 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". Under Section 154 of the Cr.P.C., it is compulsory now for the police to register an FIR on receipt of a complaint.

The court further said that

“In cases wherein 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 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.”

According to the court, registration of FIR will ensure transparency not only in the criminal justice delivery system but also “judicial oversight”. This upholds the ‘rule of law’ inasmuch as the ordinary person brings forth the commission of a cognisable crime to the knowledge of the state.

An analysis of this judgment will be done as soon as the full copy of this judgment is available to us.