Under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, must police register an FIR with no complainant?
Coram: Sudhanshu Dhulia; Prashant Kumar Mishra
Yes. Once the police receive any information sufficient to suspect that a cognizable offence has been committed, whether through an informant or otherwise, registration of the FIR is obligatory under Sections 154(1) and 157(1). The plea that nobody came forward to lodge a complaint is unsustainable where the officers already had information regarding the crime.
Indian Evidence Act, 1872 - s. 154 - Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - ss. 154(1), 311 - Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 - s. 4 - Hostile witness - Registration of FIR - Victim compensation - Indian Evidence Act, 1872 - s. 154 - Hostile witness - Evidence not washed off the record - Held: Evidence of a witness cross-examined by the party calling him cannot be washed off the record altogether. The Court may act on the part it finds creditworthy where corroborated by other reliable evidence, as Section 154(2) now expressly provides. (¶26, 31) Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - s. 311 - Material witness - Second part mandatory - Held further: The second part of Section 311 casts a duty rather than a discretion, obliging the Court to summon or recall any person whose evidence appears essential to the just decision of the case. An eyewitness omitted from the charge-sheet may be so summoned. (¶47, 48) Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 - ss. 154(1), 157(1) - Registration of FIR - No informant needed - Held further: Once the police have information of a cognizable offence, from an informant or otherwise, registration of the FIR is obligatory. That nobody came forward to lodge a complaint is no defence where the officers knew of the crime. (¶69) Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 - ss. 3(2)(i), 4 - Police officers - Victim compensation - Held further: Officers who withheld the FIR to save the culprits, and the officer who manufactured an extra-judicial confession falsely implicating members of a Scheduled Caste, were rightly convicted. Compensation awarded; appeals dismissed. (¶74, 75, 76)
One judgment a day. That's the whole habit.
Read the full text of K. P. Tamilmaran v. The State by Deputy Superintendent of Police — and get the Supreme Court's output as a five-minute daily read, with plain-language headnotes and the questions each judgment settles.
Create my free accountFree forever plan · 30 seconds · data stays in India