India’s Zero FIR is not a new concept to Bangladesh, Here’s why

Barrister Aiman R. Khan: Imagine a rape victim, knowing that her life is in great danger goes to a police station far from her area to report her case. She did this intentionally to prevent her perpetrator from tracking her down and causing further injury. She may not have another opportunity to tell her story if her FIR does not get registered instantly. But the police due to procedural complications, do not register the FIR on the grounds that it the place of occurrence of the crime did not fall within the limits of their jurisdiction.

At the event of a serious crime, the first thing the victim, informant, eye-witness or even a bystander would do is visit their nearest police station to report the crime. But there may be times when doing so would be unsafe. Hence, the first thing that comes to their mind is to do the unexpected, i.e., go as far as possible and lodge their grievance to any other police station but the one in their area.

The purpose of registering an FIR is to obtain the information as early as possible so that the police can take immediate steps. The significance of an FIR goes a long way. ‘FIR’, which is the abbreviation of ‘First Information Report’ is treated as the information that is fresh off the memory of the informant about the commission of a major offence. The police will start investigating into the matter once the FIR has been registered and a serial number has been given, even without the permission of a Magistrate. But the practice of refusing to register an FIR on such a petty ground of territorial jurisdiction may become an abuse of the process itself.

To stop further injustice from happening, our neighbouring country India came up with an innovative plan. A brainchild of Justice Verma’s Committee on the aftermath of the gruesome ‘Nirbhaya’ rape case, an FIR can now be filed at any police station irrespective of jurisdiction. This is called a ‘0’ (Zero) FIR, filing of which is mandatory and the police cannot refuse to register it.

While every FIR of a specific jurisdiction, be it in India or Bangladesh is recorded in a register maintained by that police station and given a number, a ‘Zero FIR’ is numbered ‘0’ and contains only the information, hence is the name. Once a Zero FIR is registered, it is later transferred to the police station that has the actual jurisdiction. However, this concept is not new to us.

A simple reading of the Police Regulations of Bengal 1943 can reveal something similar, albeit not exact. Regulation 248 (a) of the PRB states that “When the report of a crime mentioned in clause (c) of regulation 246 or triable exclusively by the Court of Sessions relates to an occurrence outside the jurisdiction of the officer to whom the report is made, he shall at once send information, by telegram whenever possible or by express letter, to the police-station in the jurisdiction of which the occurrence took place, and if the circumstances of the case warrant it, shall effect the apprehension of the accused.”

Moreover, Section 12 of the Police Act 1861 states that the “IG of Police may with the approval of the Government from time to time, frame such orders and rules as he shall deem expedient relative to the Organization, inter alia, the collecting and communicating by them of intelligence and information, and all such other orders and rules relative to the police force as the IGP shall from time to time deem expedient for preventing abuse or neglect of duty”. Therefore, it may be said that the IGP may make a rule enforcing Regulation 248 (a) of the PRB or any other rule in order to lift the practice of territorial jurisdiction in registration of FIRs.

While it is true that the alternative route open to the victim of a crime is appearing before a Magistrate, the situation may not always be in their favour. The victim of a crime may not even live to see the next day, let alone going to the court to tell their story. The process can be lengthy and it defeats the whole purpose. Hence such a route is totally out of the question. Therefore, one has to rely on the instantaneous method and that is to visit a police station regardless of its location.

Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which describes the process of registering an FIR makes no mention as to jurisdiction limits. The PRB is considered as the bible of the police and when the it clearly states that a police officer is allowed to accept the report of a crime outside his territorial limits, there should not be any other question but to go by the book. Such a simple change of practice can save the lives of many and restore people’s faith on the criminal justice system.

The Author is an Associate Advocate, Rahman Law Associates & Company