Lalita Kumari vs. Govt. of Uttar Pradesh & Ors., AIR 2014 SC 187

Facts

1. The father of a kidnapped minor girl approached the Supreme Court over the failure of the police to initially register the First Information Report (FIR).
2. The petition filed by the father sought directions from the Apex Court to the police to apprehend the suspects and recover the girl.
3. The failure of the police to register FIRs in this and several other cases was referred to a Constitutional Bench on the following issues.

Issues

1. Is it mandatory for the police to register a First Information Report (FIR) under Section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1973, upon receiving any information relating to commission of a cognizable offence? Do they have the power to conduct a 'preliminary inquiry' before registering the FIR, in order to test the credibility of such information?
2. Whether the non-registration of the FIR immediately on receiving a complaint, creates scope for manipulation by the police that negatively affects the right of the victim/complainant to have their allegations investigations fairly?
3. Does it violate an accused person's rights when a complaint or information does not explicitly state the commission of a cognizable offence but the FIR is nonetheless filed?

Observation by the Court

1. Registration of an FIR is the first step of the right of the victim to access justice.
2. The use of word "shall" in Section 154(1) implied that it was mandatory for the police to register an FIR if the information/complaint disclosed a cognizable offence.
3. The police had no option to refuse to register an FIR, even if the information was not credible.
4. If the police felt that the complaint/first information was not genuine, it could conduct a fair investigation, and file a final report to close the same.

Directives issued by the Supreme Court

1. Registration of FIR is mandatory under Section 154 of the Code, if the information discloses commission of a cognizable offence and no preliminary inquiry is permissible in such a situation.
2. If the information received does not disclose a cognizable offence, a preliminary inquiry may be conducted only to ascertain whether cognizable offence is disclosed or not.
3. If the inquiry discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, the FIR must be registered. If it does not discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, the complaint must be closed and a copy of entry of such closure must be supplied to the first informant/complainant forthwith and not later than one week. Such copy must disclose reasons in brief for closing the complaint and not proceeding further.
4. Action must be taken against erring officers who do not register the FIR if information received by him discloses a cognizable offence.
5. Cases in which preliminary inquiry is to be conducted will depend on the facts and circumstances of that particular case. Such cases may include: matrimonial disputes, commercial offences, medical negligence cases, corruption cases, and cases where there is abnormal delay in initiating criminal prosecution, etc.
6. The preliminary inquiry (if any) should be made time bound and in any case it should not exceed 7 days.
7. All information received in a police station relating to cognizable offence, whether resulting in registration of FIR or leading to an inquiry, must be mandatorily reflected in the Station Diary along with the decision to conduct a preliminary inquiry (if any).