Put FIR online within 24 hours, HC orders police…..Ashutosh Bhardwaj
New Delhi EFFECTIVE FEB 1, If case sensitivity cited to deny FIR, police chief can be approached
Expanding the ambit of rights for accused, Delhi High Court on Monday ruled that receiving a copy of the FIR is a right of the accused and comes under the right to know and right to life.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Manmohan directed the Commissioner of Police to take steps to ensure that the copy of an FIR is made available on the website of the Delhi Police within 24 hours of filing the FIR.
The order will come into force from February 1, 2011.
At present, an accused has no right to immediately receive the FIR after it is filed. Under Section 207 of CrPC, the copy of FIR and other documents are provided to the accused only when the chargesheet is filed in court. Section 154 of CrPC provides only the complainant the right to receive the FIR.
Earlier, amicus curiae Arvind Nigam submitted that “recording of FIR is an official act of a public official in discharge of his official duties and, therefore, it becomes a public document.”
Noting that “fair and impartial investigation is a facet of Article 21 of the Constitution (Right to life and liberty)”, the bench observed: “It is the statutory duty of a police officer to provide an accused free copies of police report, first information report and all other documents and relevant extracts.”
Additional Solicitor General AS Chandhiok, appearing on behalf of the state, submitted that an accused is not entitled to receive an FIR in certain cases like kidnapping for ransom, cases involving trauma like murder and rape, cases dealing with gangsters where life of witnesses is threatened, cases related to terrorists and national security and those registered under the Official Secrets Act.
The ASG said that to obtain a copy of the FIR, the accused or a blood relative authorised by the accused, can submit an application on a prescribed form in the police station concerned.
Petitioner Ajay Chaudhary rejected the submission and said that if an accused is not a resident of Delhi or has no relative in Delhi, he wouldn’t be able to get a copy of the FIR.
Hearing both sides, the court ruled: “The copies of the FIR, unless reasons recorded regard being had to the nature of the offence that the same is sensitive in nature, should be uploaded on the Delhi Police website within 24 hours of the lodging of the FIR.”
Ensuring that the rights of accused are not sidelined in procedural delays, the court noted: “The accused is entitled to get a copy of the FIR at an earlier stage than prescribed under S 207 of CrPC… The decision not to upload the FIR on the website shall not be taken by an officer below the rank of DCP and that too by a speaking order.”
If a copy of the FIR is not provided on the ground of sensitive nature of the case, an aggrieved person can submit a representation before the Commissioner of Police, who shall constitute a committee of three high officers who shall respond to the aggrieved person within three days, the court ruled, asking the CP to form the committee within eight weeks.