First Information Report (FIR) is the information given to the officer-in-charge of a police station regarding the commission of a cognizable criminal offence. Under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the officer in charge of police station records that information.
The information given to the SHO should be in respect of a cognizable offence. It is not necessary that the information must set out every detail of the case. It need not state the name of the accused also. What is necessary is that it must disclose information regarding the commission of a cognizable offence.
FIR is a very important and essential piece of evidence in a criminal case that serves to support the testimony given orally during the trial.
FIR does not constitute substantive evidence. It can be used only as a previous statement for the purpose of corroborating or contradicting its maker (not any other witness) as contemplated under Sections 157 and 145 of the Evidence Act.
The object of insisting on the lodgment of an FIR is to obtain the earliest information regarding the circumstances in which the crime was committed.
Insisting on a speedy police report is meant to help investigators gather early information about the crime’s circumstances, the names of the real offenders and their roles in it, as well as the names of any eyewitnesses who were present at the site. Delay in filing the FIR frequently leads to embellishment, which is a product of afterthought.
A FIR is a document that describes a crime and is intended to alert the police. It is similar to a complaint or an accusation.
An FIR given to an officer-in-charge of a Police station (“SHO” for short) is registered by him by recourse to Section 154 Cr.P.C.
The said Section is reproduced herebelow:-
Section 154: Information in cognizable cases
(1) Every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer in charge of a police station, shall be reduced to writing by him or under his direction, and be read over to the informant; and every such information, whether given in writing or reduced to writing as aforesaid, shall be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to be kept by such officer in such form as the State Government may prescribe in this behalf:
Provided that if the information is given by the woman against whom an offence under Section 326A, Section 326B, Section 354, Section 354A, Section 354B, Section 354C, Section 354D, Section 376, 55A[Section 376A, Section 376AB, Section 376B, Section 376C, Section 376D, Section 376DA, Section 376DB], Section 376E or Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) is alleged to have been committed or attempted, then such information shall be recorded, by a woman police officer or any woman officer:
Provided further that–
(a) in the event that the person against whom an offence under Section 354, Section 354A, Section 354B, Section 354C, Section 354D, Section 376, 55A[Section 376A, Section 376AB, Section 376B, Section 376C, Section 376D, Section 376DA, Section 376DB], Section 376E or Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860) is alleged to have been committed or attempted, is temporarily or permanently mentally or physically disabled, then such information shall be recorded by a police officer, at the residence of the person seeking to report such offence or at a convenient place of such person’s choice, in the presence of an interpreter or a special educator, as the case may be;
(b) the recording of such information shall be videographed;
(c) the police officer shall get the statement of the person recorded by a Judicial Magistrate under clause (a) of sub-section (5A) of Section 164 as soon as possible.
(2) A copy of the information as recorded under sub-section (1) shall be given forthwith, free of cost, to the informant.
(3) Any person, aggrieved by a refusal on the part of an officer in charge of a police station to record the information referred to in sub-section (1) may send the substance of such information, in writing and by post, to the Superintendent of Police concerned who, if satisfied that such information discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, shall either investigate the case himself or direct an investigation to be made by any police officer subordinate to him, in the manner provided by this Code, and such officer shall have all the powers of an officer in charge of the police station in relation to that offence.”
Information received in the following cases is not considered as FIR:
- Information received after commencement of the investigation.
- Telephonic information, unless it has been given by a known person who discloses his identity and the message contains all the necessary facts which constitute an offence and such a message is reduced to writing by S.H.O.
- Information of mere assemblage of some persons.
- Indefinite, Vague and unauthorized information.