Vikrama Chandra Sanyasi Raju, v. The State Of Andhra Pradesh,

THE HON'BLE SRI JUSTICE PRAVEEN KUMAR WRIT PETITION No. 17758 of 2016 ORDER:

The present writ petition came to be filed seeking issuance of writ of Mandamus declaring the action of respondent Nos.2 to 4 in not registering crime and issuing FIR against respondent No.5, as illegal and arbitrary.

The only material placed before the Court is the alleged representation said to have been made by the petitioner to the District Superintendent of Police, wherein, he requested the District Superintendent of Police to give suitable instructions to the Circle Inspector and SI of Salur Town Police Station to conduct detailed enquiry into the allegations made and to prevent the interference of the named persons therein with the property of the petitioner. I am afraid the said representation cannot by itself be treated as a report since the request made therein is something different.

In view of the above, the present writ petition is disposed of with a direction to the petitioner to give a fresh report before the SI of Police, Salur Town Police Station, Vizianagaram within a period of ten days from today and if the said report discloses commission of congnizable offence, the fourth respondent shall follow the judgment of the Apex Court in Lalita Kumari Vs.

1. The registration of a FIR is mandatory under Section 154 Cr.P.C., if the information discloses commission of a cognizable offence and no preliminary inquiry is permissible in such a situation.

2. 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 a cognizable offence is disclosed or not. 3.

If the inquiry discloses the commission of a cognizable offence, the FIR must be registered. In cases where the 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 the reasons in brief for closing the complaint and not proceeding further.

4. A police officer cannot avoid his duty of registering a FIR if a 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.

5. 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.

6. As to what type and in which cases preliminary inquiry is to be conducted will depend on the facts and circumstances of each case. The category of cases in which preliminary inquiry may be made are as under:

a. Matrimonial disputes/family disputes b. Commercial offences c. Medical negligence cases d. Corruption cases e. Cases where there is abnormal delay/laches in initiating a criminal prosecution, for example, over 3 months delay in reporting the matter without satisfactorily explaining the reasons for delay

7. While ensuring and protecting the rights of the accused and the complainant, a preliminary inquiry should be made timebound and in any case it should not exceed 7 days. The fact of such delay and the causes of it must be reflected in the general diary entry.

8.

Since the General Diary/Station Diary/Daily Diary is the record of all information received in a police station, all information relating to cognizable offences, whether resulting in registration of a FIR or leading to an inquiry, must be mandatorily and meticulously reflected in the said Diary and the decision to conduct a preliminary inquiry must also be reflected therein.

In the event the offence alleged is a non-cognizable one, the police authorities are bound to follow the due procedure laid down in Section 155 Cr.P.C. In any event, the police authorities must take suitable action in the matter in case of receipt of report disclosing cognizable offence, as expeditiously as possible. However, it is needless to mention that in case a crime is registered for offences which are punishable with imprisonment for a period of seven years or less, the police authorities shall follow the judgment of the Apex Court in Arnesh Kumar v. State of Bihar and another[2]. Pending miscellaneous petitions shall stand closed in the light of this final order. No order as to costs.

_____________________ JUSTICE PRAVEEN KUMAR 07.06.2016 vhb [1] (2014) 2 SCC 1 [2] 2014 (2) ALT (Crl.) 457 (SC)