Information to the

Police as to
Cognizable Cases
 1) information is to be given to an officer in-charge of
P.S having jurisdiction for investigation

→if given in writing or reduced

to writing, shall be signed by
the informant
→the statement of the informant
recorded u/s 154 is popularly
called as FIR
Sec.154: Information
in cognizable cases.-
→the substance of the
information shall be entered
into a book called
Station Diary or General
Diary (Sec. 44 of Police Act)

2) the informant then shall

forthwith be given a copy of
information
→the principal object of the FIR
is to set the criminal law in
motion

In Lalitha Kumari v. Govt. of U.P

(2014) S.C held that:
“the provisions of Sec. 154 are
mandatory and the P.O is duty
bound to register the case”
 →if any person aggrieved by
refusal by P.O to record the
information, may send by
post such information to the
S.P/C.P concerned

Sec. 154 (3):

 →recommended by Justice Verma
in Criminal Law (Amendment)
Act, 2013 – After Nirbaya
incident

Zero FIR
 “However, if the crime is not occurred in the jurisdiction of the said
police station, then after registering Zero FIR, the same has to be
transferred to concerned Police for investigation, where the offence has
been committed”

“A Zero FIR can be filed in any place station by the victim, irrespective of
their residence or the place of occurrence of crime”

Kiriti Vashist v. State &

Ors. (2019) Delhi H.C
→in very exceptional cases like family
disputes and medical negligence, FIR
need not be registered immediately

→ and police may conduct preliminary

verification for limited purpose of
ascertaining as to whether a
cognizable offence has been
committed
Anonymous Telephone Calls

In Tapinder Singh v. State (1970) S.C held

that “where anonymous telephone call did
not disclose the names of accused nor did
it disclose the commission of a cognizable,
such call could not be held as FIR”
In Sidhartha Vashsit @ Manusharma v.
State (NCT of Delhi) (2010)
(Jessicalal Case) S.C held that
“phone calls made immediately
after an incident to the police
constitutes an FIR only when they
are not vague or cryptic”
→ when more than one person go to
police station at the same time
and gives information about
same cognizable offence

→then the P.O can record one of

such statements as FIR
→ sometimes P.O goes to the scene
on hearing rumors

→the statement recorded there by

the P.O can be regarded as FIR
→But the statement recorded after the
commencement of the investigation
cannot be treated as FIR
 → if the information is given by the
woman against whom an offence
u/s 326A, 326B, 354, 376 or 509
of IPC has been committed, then
such information shall be
recorded by a woman P.O or any
woman officer

Sec. 154 (1): Proviso.-

→ if she is mentally or physically
becomes disabled, then such
information shall be recorded at
her residence or convenient place

→recording of such information

shall be video graphed
→the P.O shall get the statements of the
person recorded by J.M u/s 164 (5A) as
soon as possible
 → the P.O shall, after entering the
substance of the information in a
book, refer the informant to the
Magistrate

→the P.O has no further duty

unless he is ordered by a
Magistrate to investigate the case

Sec. 155 (1): Information as

to non-cognizable cases and
investigation of such cases.-
In State of Gujarat v. Radha Krishnan Varde (2013) S.C held that
“if there is a information r/to non-cognizable offence, P.O can
either refer the complainant to court or
P.O himself can approach the court and take the permission for
investigation
(friendly Policing)
(3): where a Magistrate gives order to investigate a
non-cognizable case, the P.O. may exercise same
powers in respect of the investigation in a cognizable
case

(4): where a case consisting of both cognizable and

non-cognizable offences, the case shall be deemed to
be a cognizable case