FIR registration process gets further complicated

New process bars litigants from approaching lower courts for FIR

LAHORE: Lawyers are united when saying that recent changes by the National Judicial Policy Making Committee (NJPMC) to Section 22A/22B of the CrPC have further complicated the registration of those FIRs which were not initially entertained by police stations.

Previously, these sections allowed litigants to approach the lower courts and ask them to compel the police to register an FIR if the case was not lodged by the SHO. However, after the changes, if a complainant’s FIR is not registered, he or she will have to approach the SP Complaints to obtain a report.

Once the report is obtained, the aggrieved person may attach it to his or her complaint which will be submitted to the lower court. Members of the legal fraternity say this merely adds an additional layer in FIR registration, which is difficult enough for the common man in the first place.

The Pakistan Bar Council has expressed its reservations by going on strike on a regular basis. A first information report (FIR) is usually registered under Section 154 of the CrPC. “Every information related to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer-in-charge of a police station, shall be reduced to writing by him,” the section reads.

Despite clear orders to register FIRs, there are several complaints to the contrary, says Advocate Azhar Siddiqui. The lawyer adds that he can quote hundreds of such examples.

In an earlier amendment to the CrPC, Section 22A/22B was inserted and the powers to order police to register cases were given to the Justice of Peace. In this case, the lower courts exercised the powers of Justice of Peace through a sessions or additional sessions judge.

Lawyers’ forums are regularly being approached by the public and that reflects the failure to register FIRs. According to statistics shared with NJPMC, at least 614,307 cases, under Section 22 A/22 B CrPC, were filed in the district judiciary throughout the country between January 1, 2017, and February 28, 2019.

Despite the directions issued by Justice of Peace, FIRs were still not registered and the complainants would file a case for compliance. To implement these court orders, a cell was established at the Punjab IG office in January 2013.

The decision to set up the cell was taken at a meeting held between Additional District and Sessions Judge Nazar Hussain and police officials.

Even though the lower courts would issue orders for compliance, there were many instances in which FIRs were not registered. The complainants had no option but to approach the high court.

In further statistics shared with NJPMC, at least 47,029 cases under the said provisions were filed in the high courts.

This year, however, the NJPMC decided that applications under Section 22 A of the CrPC may not be entertained by the courts unless accompanied by a decision of the relevant district SP Complaints.

Talking about the issue, Advocate Siddique said the decision was akin to turning the common man into a rolling stone. There is nothing in Section 154 that says a person, who has come to register an FIR, should go to Complaint Redressal Centres first.

The decision would make the executive more powerful, he said. Advocate Siddiqui added that the procedure may lead to delays in FIR registration and ultimately favour the accused in certain cases. He stressed on the need to strengthen Section 182 of CrPC which dealt with the registration of fake FIRs.

Advocate Imran Javed Qureshi, who is a member of the legal and judicial advisory reforms committee of the Lahore High Court Bar Association, said victims would approach the Justice of Peace under 22A/22B. “It is ironic that the NJPMC is asking them to go back to the same police to resolve their issue,” he said.

Advocate Qureshi said the law was also used to stop harassment by police. “In most of the court marriage cases, for example, parents would register an abduction case against the groom. The woman would record a statement before the court that she married of her own will. The couple would file an application before the court to direct the police not to harass them. The remedy in such cases has also been lost,” he added.

However, DIG Operations Lahore Waqas Nazir welcomed the decision. He said extra powers have not been given to the police and complainants were merely asked to approach the SP Complaints first before coming to the court.

He said that once an application was filed under section 22A/22B, the court would ask an ASI or SI to submit a report on the matter. Consequently, the report will be submitted by an officer of SP rank. Regarding section 154 of CrPC, he said interpreting this law was a matter for the courts.

Meanwhile, NJPMC issued a press release stating that bar councils and associations had not properly understood the recent decision. “The office of Superintendent of Police (Complaints) has been set up as part of the complaints against the police redressal mechanism as a form of internal accountability within the police. The creation of that office in no way takes away or abridges the jurisdiction of Justice of Peace under section 22-A (6), CrPC or the jurisdiction of a high court under Article 199 of the Constitution in the relevant matters.

An aggrieved person can still lawfully approach a Justice of the Peace or a high court in respect of a complaint against the police after exhausting his adequate alternate statutory remedy before a Superintendent of Police (Complaints),” it read.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2019.