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First Information Report under the Criminal Procedure Code

There are two types of first information report and they are (1) first information
report in cognizable cases and (2) first information report in non-cognizable cases.
Cognizable offence is defined under section-4 (1) (f) of the Code of Criminal Procedure
(1898), which means an offence for, and “cognizable case” means a case in, which a
police-officer may, in accordance with the second schedule or under any law for the time
being in force, arrest without warrant: Provided that the President of the Union may, by
notification declare that any offence punishable under sections 186, 188, 189, 190, 228,
295A, 298, 505, 506, or 507 of the Penal Code, when committed in any area specified in
the notification, shall be cognizable. Non-cognizable offence is defined under section-4
(1) (n) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (1898) which means an offence for, and “non-
cognizable case” means a case in, which a police–officer may not arrest without warrant.
Where information is received as to the commission of a cognizable offence, it is related
with section-154 of the Criminal Procedure Code (1898) and where information is
received as to the commission of a non-cognizable offence, it is related with section-155
of the Criminal Procedure Code (1898).
The definition of “first information report” is not mentioned in the Criminal
Procedure Code (1898), however, it is a well-known technical description of a report
under section-154 of the Criminal Procedure Code (1898), giving first information of a
cognizable crime. According to section-154 of the Criminal Procedure Code (1898),
“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 President of the Union may prescribe in this behalf.” The information given to a
police-officer and reduced to writing as required by this section is known as the “first
information”.
In the case of Maung Sein Tun and one v. The Union of Myanmar, 1956 B.L.R,
(H.C) 115, a First Information Report usually does not contain a detail account of every
point in the case and the usually officer who records, it cannot go into the length of

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examining the information in the way a witness is examined in Court. Because a certain
allegation as against an accused concerned has not been mentioned in the F.I.R although
the main features of the case have already been incorporated therein, one cannot conclude
that the witness (informant) is a false witness and that his evidence in Court should be
rejected into on that account. In the case of Hmwe Hmwe (a) Khin Than Win vs. The
Union of Myanmar and two others (2002, M.L.R, p-98), it was held that though it is true
that a first information report does not need to mention details in the primary informing
of the case, it is necessary to report the main points. In the case, if the informant intends
to give details only in his confession during the session without including the main points
in the case file, the court must carefully scrutinize whether the confession is acceptable or
not. In the case of Nyan Wai Phyo Vs. The Union of Myanmar, 2009, M.L.R, p.24, the
Court held that concerning a cognizable case, as first information report has been written
under section 154 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the case is liable to investigate on the
case in accordance with this law, section 156. The first information report must be written
immediately according to section 154. If an information is written only after the
investigation, it will be a confession made during the investigation and not a FIR
according to section 154.
Under Paragraph-1414 of the Myanmar Police Manual, Volume-2, 2000, A first
information report has to be recorded as quickly when receiving information deals with
the cognizable case. If first information report may be recorded after a police-officer had
begun investigation, it will not be a first information report by law. Under Section-162 of
the Criminal Procedure Code (1898), no statement made by any person to a police-officer
in the course of an investigation can be referred to or used for any purpose by the court or
anyone else at an inquiry or trial in respect of an offence under investigation at the time
when such statement was made, except for the purpose of contradicting the witness and
impeaching his credit as provided by sections-145 and 155 of the Evidence Act, 1872.
Regarding the first information report in non-cognizable cases, according to
section-155 (1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (1898), When information is given to an
officer in charge of a police-station of the commission within the limits of such station of
a non-cognizable offence, he shall enter in a book to be kept as aforesaid the substance of
such information and refer the informant to the Magistrate.

Law-621A Criminal Procedure Code