HOW TO APPROACH THE POLICE AND FILE AN FIR

HOW TO INITIATE A CRIMINAL ACTION AGAINST SOMEONE

Criminal Law is an important aspect of law, more importantly in India, because there are a lot many scoundrels (read as ‘bad subjects of the society’) out in open who may try to physically/ mentally/ financially harm you. In that situation, believe me, it is more important to know the criminal law than any other law.

Let us take a simple case of cheating u/s. 420 IPC. Consider the following illustration: 

 

 

ILLUSTRATION

Akbar introduced himself to Babur, a sports journalist, as the Personal Secretary of M.S. DHONI and thereby asked Babur to give him Rs. 10,000/- to fix an interview with Dhoni. Babur was elated to hear this and gladly agreed to the offer. Babur transferred the money in Akbar’s Bank Account through NEFT. Later, Babur realized that he has been cheated by Akbar

HOW TO APPROACH THE POLICE AND FILE F.I.R

While reading through other articles on the related topic, it may naturally occur to a layman that filing an FIR is a rather simple exercise and is a matter of right, but I kid you not, it is not as easy as it appears. In order to register an FIR, you have to first approach the Police Station, which in itself can become a perplexing experience.

 

Following is the appropriate mechanism to approach the Police station, considering the above circumstances:

1.   Preparing a Police Complaint: 

You must prepare a WRITTEN COMPLAINT (hereinafter “Police Complaint”) of the incident containing the following essential points:

• Your name
  
• Your address
• Your contact details (such as phone number and email address, if available)

You need to say:

• What happened
• The date of the incident
• The place where the incident occurred
• The name(s) and contact details (if available) of the Accused who caused the injury or damage.
• What was said or done by the Accused
• Whether there were any witnesses to the incident
• The contact details of the witness(es), if any
• The steps you took after the incident
• Include all/any documentary, audio, video evidence(s) in the Complaint as ‘Annexures’ to the Complaint, for proving the happening of the incident.
• At the end - Request the Police Officer to file F.I.R. in the said incident. 
• Important: Mark a copy of this Police Complaint to the Commissioner of Police/ Superintendent of Police (this shall act as a future measure as required under section 154(3) of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973).
  

 

2.   Lodging the Police Complaint: 

You must take 2-3 photo-copies of this Police Complaint and shall submit it in the nearest Police Station in the following manner:

• Each police station has a ‘Dispatch Department’ (A department which receives/sends letters etc. on behalf of that specific Police Station).
  

• Carry 01 Original & 01 Photo-copy of the Police Complaint and submit the Original Police Complaint in the Dispatch Department and ask such Dispatching officer to put an Acknowledgment/Received stamp and Date on the photo copy of the police complaint.

• Ask the Dispatching Officer about the ‘Lodging Number’ of your police complaint.

• Keep the stamped photo-copy complaint with yourself. This shall act as a proof that you have lodged a complaint in the Police station.

• Following the procedure mentioned above, lodge the other photo-copy complaint in the Dispatch Department of the Commissioner of Police/ Superintendent of Police and safely keep the proof of the same with yourself.

 

3.   Follow-up with the Police (with a cool head): 

It is important to note here that in order to deal with police complaints, an Investigating Officer is assigned to each and every police complaint received by the Police station.

• Next step is to know the name and contact details of the Investigating Officer (hereinafter “I.O.”) appointed to your complaint.

• Ask the Dispatch Officer as to whether any IO has been appointed to your police complaint. (Appointment of IO to a case may take 1-2 week time)

• Once, you obtain the name and contact number of the appointed IO, try to reach him (with a cool head) via phone-call or otherwise and request him to take your statement in the matter and thereafter register an FIR.

• Before registering an FIR, an IO may want to hear the story of the other party (i.e. Accused), in case your story, in some way or another, does not seem believable to the IO.

• Filing of an FIR is a big-deal for an IO as it practically means that the IO has to mandatorily start an investigation in the matter, and shall be held answerable to his superiors, if the case does not stand proved at the end of the investigation.

• Therefore, it is important to provide the IO with every piece of evidence that you have.

 

4.   Registration of F.I.R:

If everything falls in place and the IO seems to believe your story, the FIR will be registered at the Police Station and the IO may then proceed and arrest (as the illustrated offence u/s. 420 of IPC is a cognizable offence) the Accused as per law laid down under Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.

 

 

 

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WHAT IF POLICE DOES NOT TAKE ANY ACTION ON MY COMPLAINT?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Advocate Shreyas Jain, being a legal practitioner based in Mumbai, specializes in Criminal Law and primarily deal with criminal matters placed before Metropolitan Magistrates and Session Courts at Mumbai & Thane. Mr. Jain is a first generation lawyer and believes in working and excelling at the ground level before going big. You may reach him through his e-mail jainshreyas1995@gmail.com

 

 

 

NOTE: VIEWS MENTIONED IN THE ARTICLE ABOVE ARE PERSONAL AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ANY PERSON, PLACE, ORGANIZATION OR ANY OTHER SUCH THING FALLING UNDER THE DEFINITION OF ‘PERSON’ UNDER INDIAN PENAL CODE, 1860. VIEWS EXPRESSED ABOVE MAY SLIGHTLY CHANGE ACCORDING TO THE PREVAILING STATE POLICE PRACTICE.