SC pulls up Manipur Police over Zero FIR: What is it and how does it work?

The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday questioned the delay in the registration of the first information report (FIR) in the case of the sexual assault of three Kuki women in Manipur’s Kangpokpi district on May 4, Bar and Bench reported.

“What was the police doing for 14 days to register the FIR ?” Chief Justice DY Chandrachud asked. “Fourteen days for a zero FIR? Why?”

But what exactly is a Zero FIR?

When a police station receives a complaint about an alleged offence committed in the jurisdiction of another police station, it files a FIR and forwards it to the appropriate police station for further investigation. This is referred to as a Zero FIR.

In Zero FIR, no normal FIR number is provided. No serial number is assigned to the case, instead the FIR is given the number ‘0’ and hence the name.

After receiving the Zero FIR, the revenant police station files a fresh FIR and begins the investigation.

When was the provision of Zero FIR established?

The provision of Zero FIR came up after the recommendation in the report of the Justice Verma Committee, which was formed to suggest amendments to the Criminal Law in order to provide for faster trial and enhanced punishment for criminals accused of sexual assault against women. The committee was set up after the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case.

The provision says that “A Zero FIR can be filed in any police station by the victim, irrespective of their residence or the place of occurrence of crime."

What is the purpose of a Zero FIR?

The goal of a Zero FIR is to save the victim from having to run from pillar to post to file a police report. The provision is intended to give the victim with prompt redress so that appropriate action can be done following the filing of the FIR.

What is an FIR?

The term first information report (FIR) is not defined in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), or any other law, however in police regulations or rules, information filed under Section 154 of the CrPC is referred to as a FIR.

Section 154 (“Information in cognisable cases”) says that “every information relating to the commission of a cognisable 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”.

Also, “a copy of the information as recorded…shall be given forthwith, free of cost, to the informant”. In essence then, there are three important elements of an FIR:

1. The information must relate to the commission of a cognisable offence.

2. It should be given in writing or orally to the head of the police station.

3. It must be written down and signed by the informant, and its key points should be recorded in a daily diary.