The Author, Shiv Kumar is 1st Year student pursuing B.A LLB from DR. B. R. Ambedkar National Law University, Sonipat, Haryana. He is currently interning with LatestLaws.com.
INTRODUCTION
Do you know how to register your complaint to the police? It is done by lodging an FIR at the police station within which the jurisdiction of the place of the incident comes. It is a usual practice, but what if I say that a complaint can be lodged at the police station which does not even cover the place of incident within its jurisdiction? Yes, it can be, by lodging Zero FIR.
This article will discuss the concept of Zero FIR, its process, guidelines and relevant case laws.
ZERO FIR
A Zero FIR is not restricted by the jurisdiction of a police station, it is immaterial whether a particular police station covers the area of the incident or not, Zero FIR can be lodged in that police station. When an FIR is registered, an FIR number is given to that or further reference and record keeping but when it comes to Zero FIR, the number ‘zero (0)’ is assigned to that particular FIR, as the name suggests. But it does not mean that police stations will work outside of their jurisdictions, as soon as they register a complaint as Zero FIR, they need to transfer that FIR to the concerned police station, and then that police station assigns an FIR number to that Zero FIR and make it a regular FIR.
Zero FIR is not an old concept like a regular FIR, it is accepted as a practice in India after the recommendation of the Justice J.S Verma Committee, which was set up after the Nirbhaya gang rape case of 2012, the committee recommended several changes in criminal law to provide quicker trial and enhanced punishment of some cognizable offences. The main purpose of this recommendation was to avoid procedural hurdles while reporting cognizable offences and to provide speedy redressal by taking timely action.
HOW TO FILE ZERO FIR
The process of filing a zero FIR is not different from a regular FIR. The process of filing can be understood by the following example:
Mr X was travelling to Ghaziabad from Delhi on his bike, he was carrying a bag which was full of cash and some electronic devices; when he was about to cross the border of Delhi, two people came from somewhere and tried to stop his bike on the pretext of asking for some help. Mr X stopped the bike but one of them took out a knife and attempted to hurt Mr X and the other one grabbed his bag, after that both of them ran away. The whole matter happened in the territory of Delhi but the nearest police station was in Ghaziabad.
1. Now Mr X as an aggrieved person approaches the police station which is in Ghaziabad and does not cover the area where the incident took place.
2. As the matter is serious and cognizable so police officer writes down the complaint based on the information given by the aggrieved person.
3. After writing the complaint, the police officer ensures that the details are correct.
4. Signature of the complainant is taken over the written complaint.
5. After the registration of this complaint, the number ‘0’ is assigned to the complaint.
6. This Zero FIR is now transferred to the concerned police station which has jurisdiction over the area where the alleged incident happened.
7. After the transfer, the concerned police station takes further necessary actions.
GUIDELINES RELATED TO THE ZERO FIR.
According to section 154 of CrPC (Code of criminal procedure, 1973), it is mandatory to register the complaint of a victim of a cognizable offence. A police officer cannot deny registering a complaint, it is his duty, but if he does so there are other ways like through the Superintendent of Police (SP) or even Judicial Magistrate, to get your complaint registered. Also after the recommendation of Justice Verma Committee section 166A was inserted into IPC (Indian Penal Code), which makes it a penal wrong if a public servant does not register a complaint or fails to register it and the punishment under this section is imprisonment up to two years and a fine. An advisory was also issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs which accentuates the compulsory registration of FIR of a cognizable offence irrespective of the territorial jurisdiction. Apart from statutory guidelines, the constitution bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Lalita Kumari v Govt. of U.P [W.P (Crl)No. 68/2008] held that “Registration of FIR is a mandatory procedure if the incident is cognizable and does not require a preliminary investigation”, the Hon’ble court also issued some guidelines related to this and one of them is “The police officer cannot avoid his duty of registering offence if the 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”. So it is mandatory for a police officer to register a Zero FIR if a cognizable offence is disclosed.
CASE LAWS
In Satvinder Kaur v State (Govt. Of N.C.T Delhi): 1999 (8) SCC 728 the question before the hon’ble supreme court was that, is it a valid ground to quash an FIR, that the police has no territorial jurisdiction over the matter even if it is cognizable one. Brief facts of this case are that a woman from Delhi was married to a man from Patiala and after two years of marriage she was thrown out of her matrimonial home in Patiala. She lodged an FIR in Patiala and came back to Delhi. She got threatening calls from his husband from Patiala to withdraw complaints, and then she filed an FIR in Delhi regarding the cruelty, torture and harassment that happened to her in Patiala. Delhi Police acted over it and arrested his husband from Patiala.
The Supreme Court held that it does not matter whether police have territorial jurisdiction over an area or not if information regarding a cognizable offence is received, police have to do the needful, and it is not a valid ground for quashing an FIR. It can be observed here that the Police can investigate under Zero FIR, and such investigation is protected and cannot be challenged only on the basis that there was no territorial jurisdiction.
Again in the year 2019, the Delhi HC in the case of Kirti Vashisht Vs. State & Ors. Crl.M.C. 5933/2019 & Crl.M.A.40833/2019 held that it is mandatory to register a Zero FIR if the nature of the offence is cognizable, a Zero FIR shall be lodged where information of the offences is received and then necessarily it should be transferred to the concerned police station.
The Hon’ble Supreme Court in the Union of India Versus Ashok Kumar Sharma and Others [2020] 4 MLJ (CRL) 243 in paragraph 71 again affirmed its position on the registration of Zero FIR, it said “It is to be noted that the duty to register FIR, when information is received about a cognizable offence falling under Chapter IV of the Act, it is clear from the very inception that a Police Officer has no jurisdiction to investigate the offence. It is not a case of the absence of territorial jurisdiction. No doubt, if it is a case of another Police Officer being empowered to investigate the offence in terms of powers under CrPC, the law is, as laid down, that there is the obligation to register an FIR and then make it over to the Police Station which has jurisdiction.”
In State of Andhra Pradesh vs Punati Ramulu and Others AIR 1993 SC 2644, the Hon’ble SC even said that “if a police officer refuses to lodge an FIR just because it is outside the territorial jurisdiction, it is nothing but an act of shame of duty on the part of such officer.”
CONCLUSION
The concept of Zero FIR is very much significant to ensure speedy redressal as the informant does not have to waste time in finding the jurisdiction of a Police station, The rationale behind the Zero FIR is that an offence should be reported without any hurdle of territorial jurisdiction, as reporting is the first stage of any proceeding which is initiated to ensure that justice is delivered. Also, Zero FIR gives a chance to those who are unable to report a crime in their local limits because some people hold a strong influence over the area or the police is not ready to lodge a complaint.
The practice of Zero FIR is very needful and proved to be convenient in filing complaints quickly and without fear of losing evidence.
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