Rohit Kumar Singh

BALLB(H) 2018-23
A8111118120
Sem-5th

• What relevance does ’Zero FIR’ have?

FIR

FIR stands for First Information Report. An information given to police by any person who
have knowledge of the information may be called as an FIR. It is an information related to the
Commission of any offence. The person who is giving the information is known as
Informant. the provision related to the FIR is given u/s 154 CrPc.

Zero FIR

It is different from the regular FIR mention u/s154 of CrPc, 1872.

It was introduced by the recommendation of the Justice Verma Committee in the Criminal
Law Amendment Act, 2013 after the ghastly Delhi rape case.
It can be registered at any police station irrespective of the jurisdiction and place of crime and
after pre investigation it can be transferred to relevant police station by the police.
Generally, FIR is given a number but Zero FIR get a number ‘0’.
The police cannot claim ‘lack of jurisdiction’ to register an FIR and they are also urged to
conduct a prelude investigation despite lack of jurisdiction.

In the case of Kirti Vashisht v. State &Ors.,The Delhi High Court observed as follows,

“As per section 154 Cr.P.C., if any information relating to the commission of a cognizable
offence is received by any Police Station, the said Police Station is duty bound to register the
FIR. However, if the crime is not occurred in the jurisdiction of the said Police Station, then
after registering the ‘Zero FIR’, the same has to be transferred to the concerned Police Station
for investigation, where the offence has been committed… A Zero FIR can be filed in any
police station by the victim, irrespective of their residence or the place of occurrence of crime.”

Relevances of Zero FIR

• The evidences can not be tempered.

• Protection of evidence from manipulation and corruption.

 • Appropriate samples, circumstantial details can be taken as soon as possible after
commission of offences.

• Crimes like murder, rape and accidents require immediate action from the concerned
police authorities.

Legal Provisions

There is no direct provision is given in CrPc related to the Zero FIR. However, Section 460
of the Code talks about ‘Irregularities which do not vitiate proceedings’, Clause (e) of the
section states that If any Magistrate is not empowered by law to take cognizance of an
offence under clause (a) or clause (b) of sub- section (1) of section 190 and takes a
cognizance of the offence irrespective of this, such a proceeding shall not be set aside merely
on the ground that the Magistrate did not have jurisdiction to entertain the same. U/s 166A
(c), if any public servant fails to record any information given to him under sub-section (1) of
section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, in relation to cognizable offence …
shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six
months but which may extend to two years, and shall also be liable to fine.