Jammu & Kashmir court issues show cause notice to SHO for non-registration of FIR as per Supreme Court mandate in Lalita Kumari

A Jammu and Kashmir court recently issued show cause notice to the Station House Officer (SHO) of a Jammu and Kashmir police station for non-registration of First Information Report (FIR) as per the mandate of the the Supreme Court in the case of Lalita Kumari v. Govt. of UP (Abid Hussain Wani V/s Jeelani Sofi and Ors)..The show cause notice was issued by the 2nd Additional Munsiff, Srinagar Shabir Ahmad Malik while dealing with a plea filed by one Abid Hussain Wani for issuance of direction to SHO Police Station Nishat Srinagar to lodge FIR against accused persons..Apart from the show cause notice, the Court also directed the SHO to lodge FIR and Senior Superintendent of Police to proceed against the SHO for not performing his duties and for violation of law.."The SHO Nishat has not only failed to discharge his duties as provided under law but also violated the directions/Judgment passed by the Hon'ble Supreme Court, as such SSP Srinagar is directed to take action against the erring SHO and submit the compliance report before this Court within two weeks from the date of this order. Further, SHO Nishat, Srinagar is also directed to show cause as to why this court shall not proceed against him for contempt of the Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court," the order issued on July 15, 2021. .The Court also added that it has been been held by the Supreme Court in Lalita Kumari that if the information given clearly mentions the commission of a cognizable offence, there is no other option but to register an FIR immediately. .The other considerations, such as, whether the information is falsely given, whether the information is genuine, whether the information is credible etc, are not relevant at the stage of registration of FIR and these are the issues that have to be verified during the investigation of the FIR, the Court added..The counsel for the applicant/complainant submitted in his complaint that he along with his mother and colleague had gone to public health centre, Nishat for conducting Covid-19 test. After the test was conducted, one of the colleagues of the applicant asked for a face mask. Subsequently, all the accused persons without any provocation got agitated for the same and started beating the applicant, causing head injuries to the applicant..He also submitted that the he went to the police station, Nishat for lodging an FIR against the accused but in vain, as the police officer concerned refused to lodge an FIR. The applicant, thereafter, approached the Senior Superintendent of police, Srinagar for the redressal of the grievances and for lodging an FIR against the said accused, but till date no action has been taken them, he added. .The Court relied upon the judgment passed by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme in Lalita Kumari in which the following was held:i) Registration of FIR is mandatory under 154 of the Code, if the information discloses commission of a cognizable offence and no preliminary inquiry is permissible in such a situation.ii) if the information received does not disclose a cognizable offence but indicates the necessity for an inquiry, a preliminary inquiry may be conducted only to ascertain whether cognizable offence is disclosed or not.iii) if the inquiry discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, the FIR must be registered. In cases where preliminary inquiry ends in closing the complaint, a copy of the entry of such closure must be supplied to the first informant forthwith and not later than one week. It must disclose reasons in brief for closing the complaint and not proceeding further.iv) the police officer cannot avoid his duty of registering offence if cognizable offence is disclosed. Action must be taken against erring officers who do not register the FIR if information received by him discloses a cognizable offence.v) the scope of preliminary inquiry is not to verify the veracity or otherwise of the information received but only to ascertain whether the information reveals any cognizable offence.vi) as to what type and in which cases preliminary inquiry is to be conducted will depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. .Thus, it can be concluded that in order to keep the criminal justice system moving, filing of “FIR” is most essential, the Court said. ."Keeping in view what has been discussed and the facts and circumstances of the instant case, the SHO Police Station Nishat is directed to register FIR against the accused under the relevant provisions of law keeping in view the allegations made in the application," the Court ordered..The matter will be heard again on August 28. [Read Order]