By:-Muskan Sharma
What is a Criminal Complaint?
A Criminal Complaint is a complaint consisting of such facts and circumstances forming part of the commission of an offence. In India, the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (hereinafter referred to as “IPC”) is the penal law stating all the offences, except as provided under any other law. The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (hereinafter referred to as “CrPC”) is the procedural law that governs the criminal regime from the stage of lodging a criminal complaint to convicting/acquitting the accused person.
Importance of a Criminal Complaint
A Criminal Complaint sets the criminal law regime into motion.
In Emperor v. Khwaja Nazir Ahmed[1], it was observed that an FIR provides early information as to the alleged offence, to record the facts of the case before they are forgotten or glorified, and to provide the same to the Court as evidence for the investigation of the case.
Though FIR is not considered as evidence and has almost nil evidentiary value, it can be used to corroborate the statements of the accused, witnesses, victim, and other persons involved in the offence.
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Therefore, a Criminal complaint serves the following purposes:
- Early Disclosure of information as to the commission of an offence.
- Prevent the accused from becoming a habitual offender.
- Justice to be served to the victim.
- Commencement of the investigation as to the commission of the alleged offence.
Information that constitutes an FIR
A Criminal Complaint or an FIR should contain the following information:
- Whether the complainant is an eye witness to the incident, heard about the incident, or is a victim himself/herself.
- Nature of the offence.
- Name and other details of the victim (if aware).
- Name and other details of the accused (if aware).
- Date and time of the occurrence.
- Place of the occurrence.
- Description of the incident as a step-by-step process along with the surrounding circumstances.
- Name and other details of all the witnesses to the occurrence.
- Whether any traces were left behind by the accused.
- Any other material circumstances.
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Information does not constitute an FIR
It must be noted that not all information can be termed as a ‘criminal complaint’ or ‘FIR’. Only the information that is disclosed to the officer-in-charge of the concerned Police Station and reveals the commission of a cognizable offence can constitute an FIR. Also, only the earliest version of the case can constitute an FIR.
In case of multiple FIRs registered in a single case, the earliest report to the police officer will reach the officer-in-charge as the FIR.
Telephonic Information
If the telephonic information received by the concerned police officer discloses neither the name of the accused nor the offence committed, it will not amount to an FIR or Criminal Complaint. The same has been stated by the Supreme Court in Ravishwar Manjhi & Ors. v. State of Jharkhand[2].
In Soma Bhai v. State of Gujarat[3], a complaint was reported to the sub-inspector and before reducing the information to writing, the sub-inspector looked for instructions from the main police station at Surat via telephone message. It was observed that information written down by the sub-inspector was an FIR but the message received by the sub-inspector was too vague and cryptic to be called an FIR.
In T.T. Anthony v. State of Kerala[4], it was observed by the Supreme Court that apart from cryptic information received via telegram or telephone, the information recorded first in the station house diary by the officer-in-charge is the FIR.
In Thaman Kumar v. State of Union Territory of Chandigarh[5], it was held that telephonic message conveyed by the Constable on Night Patrol Duty does not constitute an FIR.
In Vikram & Ors. v. State of Maharashtra[6], PW2 informed the police officer on telephone and missed out on some of the details. The Supreme Court observed that a cryptic and anonymous message conveyed to a police officer via telephone, which does not disclose the commission of a cognizable offence, cannot be considered as an FIR. It was further observed that merely because the information was first in point of time, it cannot be called an FIR.
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In Animireddy Venkata Ramana and Ors. v. Public Prosecutor, High Court of Andhra Pradesh[7], it was held that information received by an officer-in-charge via telephone about the commission of a crime is not an FIR but merely a call to make the Police come to the crime scene merely. It is not expected of an officer-in-charge of a police station to go to the crime scene only after the registration of an FIR.
In Sidhartha Vashist @ Manu Sharma v. State of NCT of Delhi[8], it was again observed that a cryptic message received via telephone should not be treated as an FIR as the intent of such a communication is only to get the police to the crime scene. The intention can be culled out from a reading of Section 154 of the CrPC which provides that if the information is provided orally, should be reduced to writing.
Ways to file a Criminal Complaint
To set the criminal law into motion, the first step is to report the commission of a crime. There are two ways to report the commission of a crime, which are as follows:
- One may go to the nearest Police Station and provide all the information related to the commission of a crime to the concerned police officer. If the information disclosed reveals the commission of a cognizable offence, the concerned police officer will lodge an FIR (First Information Report) under Section 154 of the CrPC.
- If the information disclosed reveals the commission of a non-cognizable offence, the concerned police officer will lodge an NCR (Non-Cognizable Report) under Section 155 of the CrPC. The concerned police officer then forwards the NCR to the Magistrate and has no power to investigate such a case without the order of the Magistrate.
- Apart from this, in petty incidents like Lost and Found, Missing person, and similar incidents, one can go to the state police portal and file an e-FIR. The service of e-FIR has made it easy for the citizens to report their petty cases and not go to the police station every now and then. Surprisingly, there are no provisions that expressly regulate the procedure to be followed after the filing of an e-FIR. Hence, there is a dire need for some more provisions in the criminal law regime of India that can govern the procedure of registering e-FIR and the procedure to be followed afterward.
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Essentials of an FIR
The expression ‘FIR (First Information Report)’ is not used anywhere in the CrPC. However, Section 154 of the CrPC provides the essential conditions to be satisfied during disclosure of the commission of the alleged offence to the officer-in-charge of the police station, which are as follows:
- The offence alleged to have been committed must be a cognizable offence.
- The officer-in-charge of the police station must receive such information.
- The complainant must reduce all the information to writing and sign it. If the complainant provides the information to the officer-in-charge orally, then the officer-in-charge or his subordinate police officer may reduce it to writing.
- The information reduced in writing be read over to the complainant and provided to him for signing it.
- The information recorded should be entered into the Daily Diary, General Diary, Station Diary, or such other diary or register as prescribed by the appropriate Government.
After the filing of FIR, the officer-in-charge has to conduct a preliminary inquiry. In Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of Uttar Pradesh[9], the Supreme Court held that the purpose of preliminary inquiry is to determine whether the allegations in the criminal complaint make out a cognizable offence. It was further observed by the Supreme Court that action should be taken against the concerned police officer if no FIR is registered even after the disclosure of a cognizable offence.
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Remedies for non-registration of FIR
There is a dire need to expand the scope of e-FIR as the service is available only for petty crimes and also because the police officials often deny registering a criminal complaint. However, the expansion of the scope of the service of e-FIR is not in our hands. Therefore, if there is a refusal to register our police complaint, we may adopt any of the following remedies:
- One may reach out to police officers of higher ranks and let them know about the complaint.
- One may write a letter or application to the Superintendent of Police stating all the material facts and circumstances of the complaint under Section 154(3) of the CrPC. The Superintendent of Police may either investigate the case himself or order an investigation.
- One may file a private complaint to the Magistrate under Section 200 of the CrPC. The Magistrate is then, supposed to decide on the issue of cognizance.
- If the police do not co-operate in the investigation and one is not sure of the court procedures to be followed, one may take the aid of various bodies like SHRCs/NHRC, NCW, NCPCR, NCSC, etc.
What is Zero FIR?
Zero FIR is an FIR that can be filed at any police station regardless of the jurisdiction. A Zero FIR is ultimately transferred to another police station having jurisdiction to conclude the investigation. The purpose behind lodging a Zero FIR is to obtain evidence in cases involving sexual assault, murder, road rage, and so on. In such cases, it is pertinent to obtain evidence and conduct an investigation as the evidence is capable of being manipulated or corrupted.
Also, it doesn’t let the police officials avoid their duty to investigate an offence. Therefore, the officer-in-charge cannot refuse to register an FIR in such a case merely on the ground of lack of jurisdiction.
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Evidentiary Value of a Criminal Complaint
A complaint made to the police has no evidentiary value for the following reasons:
- It is not made during the trial.
- It is not given on oath.
- It is not tested by cross-examination.
- It is not a substantial piece of evidence and the only purpose of an FIR is to set the criminal law regime in motion.
- A statement made before a police officer is not admissible as evidence as stated in Sections 25 and 26 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872.
Also, an unreasonable or undue delay in filing an FIR also gives rise to suspicion on the complainant.
However, FIR can be used to corroborate the statements made by the accused, victim, and witnesses during the trial and other types of evidence.
[1] (1945) 47 BOMLR 245
[2] AIR 2009 SC 1262
[3] AIR 1975 SC 1453
[4] AIR 2001 SC 2637
[5] AIR 2003 SC 3975
[6] AIR 2007 SC 1893
[7] AIR 2008 SC 1603
[8] AIR 2010 SC 2352
[9] (2014) 2 SCC 1