The Delhi Police recently lodged a ‘zero FIR’ against the District Magistrate of Deoghar in Jharkhand on the charge of sedition and under the Officials Secret Acts in the aftermath of the airport row in the state.
In view of the same, we explain what a zero FIR is and how it differs from an FIR.
What is an FIR?
According to the e-journal Legal Service India, a first information report (FIR) is the information given to a police officer in writing as per the provisions of Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).
From the point of view of an informant, the main purpose of an FIR is to set criminal law into motion, while for the police, the main purpose of an FIR is to obtain information about alleged criminal activity and take necessary steps to produce the perpetrator(s) before a court.
All an informant has to do to file an FIR is to visit the local police station and furnish information, orally or in writing, about the commission of an offence. Further, anyone can file an FIR — the person approaching the police does not necessarily have to be the victim of or an eyewitness to an offence.
However, in cases when a crime has been committed outside the jurisdiction of a police station that an informant has approached, the informant is likely to be asked to approach a police station with the proper jurisdiction.
Such delays in filing FIRs can lead to delays in investigations and, by extension, in the administration of justice. This is where a zero FIR comes in.
What is a zero FIR?
Unlike an FIR, which is restricted by jurisdiction, a zero FIR can be filed in any police station, regardless of whether the offence was committed under the jurisdiction of that particular police station.
Whereas FIRs have serial numbers assigned to them, zero FIRs are assigned the number ‘0’. Hence the name.
After a police station registers a zero FIR, it has to transfer the complaint to a police station that has the jurisdiction to investigate the alleged offence. Once a zero FIR is transferred, the police station with the appropriate jurisdiction assigns it a serial number, thereby converting it into a regular FIR.
The concept of a zero FIR is relatively new and was introduced on the recommendation of the Justice Verma Committee in the aftermath of the Nirbhaya gang rape case in 2012 to put a legal obligation on police to take quick action and prevent them from using the excuse of absence of jurisidiction.