Fir And Police Complaint Lodge- How Does It Work?

What is an FIR?

The definition of the primary information Report has been provided within the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 by the virtue of Sec. 154. The FIR format can be oral or written recorded by the police and contains the basic knowledge of the crime committed, place of commission, time of commission, who was the victim, etc.

• Online FIR- While typically one needs to go to a police station to file an FIR, some states have the provision of filing an online FIR. An online FIR can be filed only for cognizable offences like murder, rape, dowry death, kidnap, etc. the police can make the arrest without the court order in these cases. The procedure for filing an online FIR or online police complaint is not given under any law or code. It is necessary for the victim to visit the website of the states where it is applicable and input the details as per FIR format.
• Police Complaint and its use- A complaint suggests that a grievance expressed by an individual to state certain things/facts.Any person who features certainly reasonable grievance to some reality, condition, state of affairs etc. may put a police complaint to Station House Officer within the local jurisdiction of whose police station that incident has occurred. The main point of a police complaint is that it can be filed for both non-cognizable and cognizable class of offences. In non-cognizable offences, like assault, cheating, stalking etc. an online police complaint can be filed. It can be later escalated into an FIR by the police after seeking permission from the Magistrate.
• Cognizable Offences- Cognizable Offences have been the class of offences in which the police has the power to make an arrest without a warrant. These offences are serious in nature, and thus the aim is to prevent the culprit or accused of harming others. Hence, the police hold the authority to make an arrest without a warrant to save the precious time involved in all the legal procedures of issuing a warrant. These offences fall under the category of cognizable offences has been specified in the first schedule of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.  It can be seen that offences having a punishment of more than three years are classified as cognizable offences and those who have punishment for less than three years are referred to as non-cognizable offences.

Lodging an FIR and its working

A victim, a witness or someone else with knowledge of the crime can register FIRs. As per the laws laid down u/s 154 of the Cr.P.C., the complainant can give information about the offence either in written or orally in the FIR copy. The police are obliged to read the FIR copy back to the complainant in case it is conversed to them orally to prevent the possibility of any differences in the oral and the written versions. Moreover, it is the duty of the complainant to report to the police station in person in case he had given the information on a telephone. As per Sec. 190, the Magistrate is empowered to take cognizance of an offence in three ways provided therein. However, if he chooses to take cognizance on the basis of a complaint then to investigate and decide upon the matter further, he is bound to follow the provisions laid down by Sec. 200 to Sec. 203 of the Cr.P.C. and if the case demands, additionally beneath Sec. 204.