New Delhi, December 28
Faced with repeated public complaints about non-registration of cases by the police, the Home Ministry has decided to issue a circular to all states asking them to ensure that all complaints received at the police stations should be treated
as FIRs.
The circular, to be issued next week, would direct state governments and Union
Territories to ensure free and total registration of all complaints as FIRs, sources in the ministry said.
The move comes following repeated public complaints that police personnel often adopts dilly-dallying tactics and show reluctance to register an FIR immediately on receiving a complaint.
The objective of the circular is that even if a complaint is false, the police has to investigate into it after registering an FIR. “If the complaint is found to be false, the police can always drop the FIR. But that should not be a deterrent in registering genuine complaints as FIRs,” an official said.
The move comes following allegations from the family of Ruchika Girhotra that when they lodged a complaint against former Haryana DGP SPS Rathore in the molestation case, the police initially refused to register an FIR.
The police also refused to register a case when Ruchika’s brother was harassed by the police on false charges, they had alleged.
The government, in the proposed amendment to the CrPC, wants to make it mandatory for a station house officer to give reasons for the registration as well as non-registration of a case after receiving a complaint.
— PTI
