Detailed Presentation on First Information Report (F.I.R) Made By: Edited By: Ayush Patria, Sangam University, Bhilwara Follow us on Instagram: @law_laboratory Website: www.lawlaboratory.in

1. FIRST INFORMATION REPORT (F.I.R)

2. WHAT IS AN F.I.R ?
The word ‘F.I.R’ is abbreviated from ‘First Information Report’.
The First Information Report means, an information recorded by
police in the form of a complaint filed by the aggrieved person or
any other person to the commission of an alleged offence.

3. An FIR is the initial step to be taken at the time of any criminal case and
on the basis of First Information Report, police commences its
investigation.
The FIR can be filed either verbally or in a written form.
It mentions about the time, day, date and place of offence/crime
committed, including the description of the events.

4. WHAT INFORMATION SHOULD YOU MENTION IN F.I.R
• Complainant’s name and address.
• Day, date, time and location of offence committed.
• Names and description of the person who were included in the offence.
* Other than this the true facts that occurred in the incident.

5. SECTION 154 OF Cr. P.C., 1973
Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 defines as to what amounts to FIR .
The sections has been summarized as follows:
• The information of the FIR must be only related to Cognizable offence, if it is given
orally to the officer in charge then it shall be written under his direction, and read over
to the informant; and every such information whether given in written or reduced to
writing as aforesaid, shall be signed by the person who is filing the FIR.

6. • A copy of the information recorded under sub- section (1) shall be
given to the complainant of free of cost.
• If any informant or complainant is refused on the part of an police
officer in charger then the person may send the substance of that
information in written by post to the Superintendent of Police
concerned who, if satisfied shall either start the investigation by

7. himself or order/direct an officer in charge to direct an
investigation and such officer shall have all the powers of an
officer in charge to that offence.

8. WHAT IS COGNIZABLE OFFENCE?
• Though an F.I.R is filed under the case of Cognizable offence
but before that let us understand what offences are known as
cognizable:
These offences are serious in nature and thus, there basic objective
is to prevent the accused from harming others.

9. A Cognizable offence is defined in u/s 2(c) of the C.P.C., 1973. A
Cognizable offence/case means serious category of offence in
which the police is having a legal authority to start or set in motion
their investigation with or without the consent/permission of court
and to arrest the criminal without a warrant.

10. • In India, crimes like rape, murder and theft are considered as
crime and lies under the category of Cognizable Offence.

11. CONDITIONS REQUIRED FOR RECORDING F.I.R
Under Section 154(1) of Cr. P.C. the following conditions should
satisfy to file an information as FIR:
1) The information should be related to the Cognizable offence only.
2) It must be submitted to an officer who is in charge of a police
station.

12. 3) It must be in the form of writing and has to be signed by the
person who is filing it.
4) If it is oral, it must be written down in writing and read over to
the informant.
5) The substance of the information shall be written in prescribed
register (Station Diary).

13. OBJECTIVES OF AN F.I.R
• To start the investigation & set the FIR on motion
• To maintain the record of information of the offences committed.
• To get it signed by the complainant or the person who is filing the FIR.
• To inform the District Magistrate and Superintendent of the police

14. who are supposed to look after the safety and security of the district.
• To inform the Judicial officer about the nature of the information,
before whom the case will tried.
• To take the information about the alleged criminal activity in order to
easy the process for tracing the guilty party.
• To safeguard the accused against subsequent variations in the FIR.

15. WHO CAN LODGE AN F.I.R ?
• An FIR can be registered by anyone who knows about the commission of a cognizable
offence.
• It can be the victim, an eye witness or someone else with the knowledge of the crime.
• It is not necessary that only a victim can file a case.
• Even a Police officer who comes to know about a cognizable offence himself/herself
file a case of FIR.

16. YOU CAN LODGE AN F.I.R IF:
• You have eye witnessed any cognizable offence.
• You were are the victim against whom the offence had been
committed.
• You have a knowledge about an offence.

17. BENEFITS OF FILING AN EARLY REPORT
FIR plays a valuable role for the informant and if the information is provided early then
it helps both, the informant and the officer in charge in finding the accused in the
following ways:
1. First Information Report statement is set to investigation as soon as it is filed.
2. Filing an early report may help the informant in memorizing the incident more
clearly.

18. 3. Delay in report is viewed with grave suspicion.
4. A fresh memory report can help the police officer in
enquiring the minute details also about the accused,
5. But a faded memory may result into difficulty in
investigation by the side of the police officer.

19. DELAY IN LODGING F.I.R
The First Information Report is itself the first or initial step to be taken after
the occurrence of a cognizable offence but there are some exceptions to it if
the complainant delays in lodging the case:
• The court may reject the case in case of delay in lodging the FIR. The delay
can only be condoned if there is any reasonable explanation behind it.

20. • In a delayed report, there are more chances of missing the
important facts of the report.
• Delay in report will only be considered if there are some
justifiable reasons. For example, where the delay in FIR lodging
is due to being filed at wrong police station. Such information
are held to be reasonable.

21. • There are many Indian cases where the delay in filing an FIR
report has been considered or declared as exception like, Satpal
Singh vs State of Haryana (2010), it was held by the
honourable court that, delay in FIR lodging in matter of sexual
offence has to be viewed with a different yardstick.

22. CASE LAW
Kulwant Singh vs. State of Punjab (2012)
FACTS:
In the present case, a writ petition was filed by Kulwant Singh, who was a
family member of Avtar Singh. On the evening of 23.1.1995 there was a
marriage of the daughter of Avtar Singh, where all the

23. family members of Avtar were celebrating in their house. At
around 8:30pm 20 police personnels entered into their house and
started beating and abusing the members of the family. After
beating Hardev Singh, Avtar Singh, and the other relatives, the
police dragged them to the police station and there Hardev Singh

24. was stripped naked in front of all and beaten brutally. Later it was revealed
by the police was annoyed as they were not provided with ‘Whiskey’ in the
marriage. After this, the complainant registered a criminal case against
those police. However, they were not allowed to meet SSP Gurdaspur.
Since the complainant was against the police, on 29.1, 1995 the
complainant party filed a

25. writ petition behind the court. The court directed them to file a criminal case
against the police. And this is how the complainant got delayed in filing the
report.
HELD:
Later it was held that, delay in lodging FIR report is not a ground to throw
an entire prosecution case away. And since the accused party

26. in this case were the police itself, so the accused-appellants and others
were arrested.
• Therefore, we can say that if a person gets delay in lodging F.I.R then
he/she may be condoned only on the basis of justifiable reasons.
If the complainant do not have any justifiable reason then the court may
reject their case.

27. IF THE POLICE REFUSES TO LODGE F.I.R
The complainant party is having the following right if the police refuses to
lodge F.I.R :
• One is having the right to reach Superintendent of police or any other
official to bring the information to their notice.
• The complainant is having the option of filing a private complaint before
the court of jurisdiction.

28. • A complainant may file his complaint in writing and sent to the
Superintendent by post, he shall either investigate on the case
himself or direct a police officer for it.
• One is having the right to approach the ‘State Human Right
Commission’ or ‘National Human Right Commission’ in case the
police is negligent or biased in manner.

29. CASE LAW:
Lalita Kumari vs. Govt. of Uttar Pradesh
Facts:
In the present case, a writ petition was filed by Lalita Kumari
through her father to issue a writ petition of Habeas Corpus for his
daughter, who has been kidnapped and the father wants the issuance

30. of writ petition for the safety and security of his daughter.
Therefore, on this unfortunate event, the petitioner filed a written
report before the police officer of the jurisdiction but no such
action was taken by their side. Thereafter, the petitioner
approached the Superintendent of police for a FIR and then it was
registered.

31. Issue:
The main issue in the given case was whether a police-in-
charge, under Section 154 of Code of Criminal Procedure
bound to file an FIR report after receiving an information of
commission of a cognizable offence or not?

32. Held:
The honourable court held that, It is mandatory in under 154 of the Code to register an
FIR upon any information received regarding a commission of Cognizable offence.
• No police officer can avoid from his duty of registering an FIR if it has been disclosed
to them.
• Strict steps should be taken against such officers.
• It is a mandatory practice directed by the Supreme Court to record all such cases in
Station Diary/General Diary.

33. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN F.I.R AND POLICE COMPLAINT
F.I.R
1) An FIR refers to filing a
‘complaint’ to the ‘police officer-
in-charge’ by the complainant who
is the victim or who is having the
knowledge of the occurrence of
cognizable offence.
POLICE COMPLAINT
1) Police complaint means an
‘appeal’ to the ‘magistrate’,
that includes an allegation of a
crime that has taken place.

34. 2) The FIR report is mainly
registered by Police officer.
3) The offence under an FIR is
always cognizable in nature.
2) The Police Complaint is
mainly made Metropolitan
Magistrate.
3) The offence under police
complaint is both, cognizable
and non-cognizable.

35. 4) There is no such prescribed
format for filing and
registering a complaint.
4) There is a prescribed format.

36. CONCLUSION
The First Information Report (FIR) is mainly followed in the countries of
South Asian and Southeast Asian countries, including India, Bangladesh,
Pakistan & Myanmar. The role that F.I.R plays in the investigation of a
criminal litigation is indispensable. It is the most valuable document in the
whole criminal process and may even

37. lead to fruitful conclusion in a criminal trial. Therefore it is
necessary for every person who is a victim or witness of any
cognizable offence; he/she must lodge such information to the
police-in-charge as soon as possible. In many of rural areas, half of
the populations don’t even know about it is important to understand

38. the system to prevent the number of crimes taking place in India
every day. This presentation provides you with the complete
information about the F.I.R, it will not only maintain the law and
order in the society but may even lead to successful conclusion in a
criminal case.