Do you know 'Zero FIR' can be lodged in Police Station irrespective of place of crime ? Adv. Rohit Erande.©

Zero ( 0 ) FIR - Something we all must know about, because in these days, the victim could be anyone..

Adv. Rohit Erande.©

The recent gruesome  incident of rape and murder of a lady Doctor in Hyderabad shook the entire nation. Don't  blame people for rejoicing over Hyderabad Encounter. It's a failure of our investigation and judicial system ?😞

What irked people more was,  reportedly the concerned Police refused to register the FIR of the incident as it was  "beyond their jurisdiction" ! .. 
But actually  what's  the Law ?
Many of us might have heard similar excuse from Police, but many of also might not be aware of Zero FIR. It's a stop gap arrangement, one may call it.

The concerned Police Commissioner after suspending 3 cops issued an order to all the police stations to register FIRs of all the cognizable offenses irrespective of Jurisdiction. It's been followed in other cities too, including Pune.. 

Now Lets see the provision in nutshell. :

Zero FIR is the concept prevailing perhaps from British Era, which is though not been specifically mentioned in the Cr.P.C.

A FIR of cognizable offense is registered in the Police Station as per Sec.154 of Cr.P.C. The Part -III of Police Manual also specifies that ordinarily  Police Station will confine its jurisdiction in case of "Cognizable Offenses", committed within its jurisdiction. But  incase of "cognizable offenses" committed outside limits, the officer should record it on plain paper and immediately arrange to send the same to the concerned Police Station and also make entry thereof in Station diary.

The hon. Supreme Court in its celebrated 5 judges bench judgment in the case of Lalita Kumari V/s. State of U.P. (D.O.J. -12/11/2013), has also reiterated that :

i) Registration of FIR is mandatory under sec.154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, if the information discloses commission of a cognizable offence and no preliminary inquiry is permissible in such a situation.

ii) If the information received does not disclose a cognizable offence but indicates the necessity for an inquiry, a preliminary inquiry may be conducted only to ascertain whether cognizable offence is disclosed or not.

                                                      xxxxxxxxx

            iv) The police officer cannot avoid his duty of registering offence if cognizable offence is  disclosed. Action must be taken against erring officers who do not register the FIR if information received by him discloses a cognizable offence.

                                                   xxxxxxxxxxx

viii) Since the General Diary/Station Diary/Daily Diary is the record of all information received in a police station, we direct that all information relating to cognizable offences, whether resulting in registration of FIR or leading to an inquiry, must be mandatorily and meticulously reflected in the said Diary and the decision to conduct a preliminary inquiry must also be reflected, as mentioned above.

Thus with an exception to the rule that FIR must be registered only in such Police Station in whose jurisdiction the offense has been committed, by adhering to Zero FIR, the victim or an aggrieved person can lodge FIR in nearest police station. 

It will be also appreciated that Sec.154 no where talks about a 'complaint' or that information to be "genuine" or reasonable, as rightly held by Hon. Supreme Court in the case of State of Haryana V/s. Bhajanlal - 1992 (Suppl.) 1 SCC 335.  This is very material information, that in case of any cognizable offense, FIR has to be registered and there is no discretion given to officer in charge. 

Sexual offenses against women are always  grave and Rape is on the top of it. Rape is referred to as "ancient and customary evil".  It also affects the self esteem of a woman.

After the heinous and gruesome "Nirbhaya Case" , in 2013 Justice Verma Committee was constituted to recommend important amendments to Criminal Law so that Sexual offenses  against women be tried faster and punishment be enhanced. Justice Verma Committee has also recommended for filing of Zero FIR in cases of Rape. 

Can a Zero FIR be misused ?

In an interesting case, of Bimla Rawal and Ors.v State (NCT of Delhi - hon. Justcie Shivnaraian dhingra ) and Anr,  FIR was lodged in Delhi, despite the fact that all incidents occurred in Mumbai. thus the Writ Petition was filed in Hon. Delhi High Court regarding the mala fide intentions of police succumbing to pressure of the Complainant. The hon. Court while allowing the Writ petition and quashing the FIR lodged in Delhi observed that "Delhi Police had invented another reason for invoking  jurisdiction for registering the FIR and the reason is is somebody has influence or high connections in Delhi, FIR can be registered in Delhi, even if crime was committed outside Delhi'.

Well, this is an exceptional case, but one must know it too. 

Well, this Law is there in the Law books, but it's not been implemented. The Police Authorities must be made aware and answerable too, for not registering the Zero FIR in Cognizable offenses. i am also doubtful as to how many of us  are also really aware of this provision ? So the public awareness is also essential and social media is the good tool for the same

We as a society should change our mindset. We should teach our sons to behave with women and to respect her. At the same time we should make our daughters aware of the fact that its not important how you look, its important how brave and self-sustained you are. 

All said and done, every thing  cannot be expected from Law makers.

Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) former British Prime Minister had rightly said,

"WHEN MEN ARE PURE, LAWS ARE USELESS; WHEN MEN ARE CORRUPT, LAWS ARE BROKEN".

We have been witnessing , how laws are broken...

Thanks and Regards

Adv. Rohit Erande

Pune.