No need to mention FIR in character certificate: IHC

ISLAMABAD:

The federal capital's high court has ruled that police cannot mention the First Information Report (FIR) filed against a citizen in their character certificate if a court has acquitted that person in that case.

"An FIR in which the applicant has been acquitted by a competent court, and the acquittal has attained finality, shall not be reflected in the police character certificate.

"Citizens so situated ought not to be driven to this court individually in order to secure what the law already confers upon them," said an eight-page order issued by Islamabad High Court (IHC) Justice Ayyaz Shaukat.

The judge was hearing a petition filed by Aniba Arfan, who had moved the IHC after police in her character certificate issued for the purpose of travelling to the United Kingdom mentioned the FIR of a case in which a court had acquitted her nine years ago.

The IHC while allowing the petition noted that a police character certificate listing an FIR terminating in acquittal does precisely what this principle forbids. "It keeps the suspicion alive after the law has laid it to rest. The proposition admits of a fortiori reasoning," it said.

According to the verdict, the Supreme Court has held that the mere pendency of a criminal case cannot, without more, justify restraining a citizen's movement, referring in that context to the view that the mere registration of an FIR is no ground for depriving a citizen of constitutional rights.

"If neither the registration nor the pendency of a criminal case can ordinarily be allowed to prejudice a citizen, then an FIR which has ended in a final acquittal can furnish no ground whatever for an adverse disclosure," it added.