FIR must in cognisable offences

Refusal to file it will amount to dereliction of duty on the part of cops, HC tells state
Mustafa Plumber. Those police officers who delay in lodging a first information report (FIR) will now face action. If officers don’t file FIRs on the registration of a complaint, it would amount to dereliction of duty and action would be taken against the officer. The Bombay high court has directed the state to issue a circular to all police stations with this information.


A division bench comprising of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice AR Joshi, while directing the authorities,
observed: “This trend of officers delaying the lodging of the FIR till the complainant moves court seeking
action needs to be arrested.” The bench was hearing the plea of developer Ashok Kumar Surana, who had complained to the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) against Kulvinder Singh Chavhan.


Chavhan had an agreement with Surana for developing a property at Borivli, but later cheated him of several lakhs. Surana had moved the high court seeking the EOW to lodge a complaint against Chavhan and investigate the matter. On Tuesday, the prosecution told the court that the police had lodged a complaint on Monday and further investigations were on. To this, the court said: “This is the third case where the police have lodged a complaint only after the complainant moved the court and the matter was to come up for hearing before the court.”


The police have been registering the offence a day before the court case hearing so that the court does not look into the complaint and question the investigating officer, it said. It added that this practice had to be stopped. The bench directed the state to come out with the circular within two weeks and send it to police stations across the state. The state has also been told to file a compliance report before the court thereafter. With regards to the present Surana case, the city police commissioner has been directed to look into the complaint and file a compliance report by the next date of hearing.

Source::: DNA, 25 Jul 2012, p.03. dnaindia.com/print.aspx?id=23015&boxid=13375&valueprint=storyPrint 1/1