How sections of law are added in FIR ?

                           There are more than 150 local and special laws under which police investigates the cases but more than 90% of cases are registered under Indian Penal Code. After registration of case, police takes the help of Criminal  Procedure Code and Indian Evidence Act to investigate and prove his case in the court. At the time of registration of case sections of applicable law are applied . Investigation is done as per procedure given in the different sections of Criminal Procedure Code and evidence is collected as per provisions of  Indian Evidence Act. Let us discuss a case registered by police under different sections of Indian Penal Code and try to understand how sections of law are applied in the FIR. Very simple it is. Suppose a case is registered u/s 147, 148, 149, 323, 324, 325, 326 IPC. Above sections are added as :

• Information received in police station.
• Contents of complaint/information are analysed.
• FIR is registered and investigating officer is deputed by SHO or District SP .
• If five or more persons use criminal force are attack on other person with common object, section 147 of IPC is added in FIR.
• If  five or more persons are  armed with deadly weapon, section 148 of IPC  is added .
• Every member of unlawful assembly (five or more persons) is guilty of offence for which section 149 of IPC  is added.
• If any injury or hurt is caused  voluntarily or intentionally with blunt weapon (simple in nature)section 323 of IPC is added.
• If any injury is caused by sharp weapon (explained in earlier post) which is simple in nature (injuries are mentioned by Doctor in MLC), section 324 of IPC is added.
• If any  grievous injury is caused by blunt weapon, section 325 of IPC is added.
• If any grievous injury is caused by sharp or dangerous weapon, section 326 of IPC is added.

                  In this way, an FIR u/s 147,148,149,323,324,325,326 IPC is registered.For which evidence is collected to prove the case, investigation is completed and final report is sent to the court for trial of the case. In the same way, cases under other sections of law  are registered and Investigated.

Acid attacks, latest amendments in law

                              The acid throwing, also known as vitriol age  is the most vicious form of crime in the society. The acid melts the skin and even bones of the victim. Mostly Hydrochloric acid and sulfuric acid has been  used in acid attacks which is easily available in the market. There is a steep rise in cases of acid throwing in past few years and most of the victims are women. There was not any specific law in India to deal with such cases of acid attacks. The section 326 of the Indian Penal Code was not so effective in dealing with this heinous form of crime. The eighteenth law commission of India which was headed by Justice A.R. Lakshmanan proposed a new section 326A to be added in the Indian Penal Code and section 114B to be added in the Indian Evidence Act. The commission also proposed a new law for compensation to the victims of the acid attacks. 

                            On the basis of the recommendations of the Law Commission, the Government of India has added new sections of law in the  Criminal Law (amendment) Act, 2013 on acid attacks.  The following sections of the Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code have been amended and added :

Public servant disobeying directions under law : Whoever being a public servant :

• knowingly disobeys any direction of the law which prohibits him from requiring the attendance at any place for the purpose of investigation into any offence or any other matter or
•  knowingly disobeys, prejudice to any person, any other direction of the law regulating the manner in which he shall conduct such investigation or
• fails to record any information given to him u/s 154  CrPC in relation to offences punishable u/s 326A, 326B, 354, 354B, 370, 370A, 376, 376A, 376B, 376C, 376D, 376E or 509 of the Indian Penal Code shall be punished with punishment from six months to two years and fine (section 166A).

Punishment for non-treatment of the victim : Whoever being In charge of a hospital public or private whether run by Central Government, State Government, local bodies or any other contravenes provisions of sections 357C of the CrPC shall be punished with imprisonment up to one year or fine or both (section 166B).

Voluntarily causing grievous heart by use of acid etc. : Whoever causes permanent or partial damage to or deformity to  or burns or maims or disfigures or disable any part or parts of the body of the person or causes grievous heart by throwing acid or by administering acid to that person or by using any other means with the intention of causing or with the knowledge that he is likely to cause injury or hurt shall be punished with imprisonment from 10 years to life and with fine.

Provided that such fine shall be just and reasonable to meet the expenses of medical treatment of the victim and also any fine imposed shall be paid to the victim (section 326A).

Voluntarily throwing or attempting to throw acid : Whoever throws or attempts to throw acid on any person or attempts to administer acid to any person or attempts to use by any other means with the intention of causing permanent or partial damage  or deformity or burns or maiming or disfigurement or disability or grievous hurt to that person shall be punished with imprisonment from 5-7 years and fine (section 326B).

Amendment of section 154 CrPC : Proviso shall be inserted as if the is given by woman against whom an offence u/s 326A, 326B, 354, 354A, 354B, 354C, 354D, 376, 376A, 376B, 376C, 376D, 376E or 509 is alleged to have been committed or attempted such information shall be recorded by a woman officer and if victim is temporarily or permanently disabled, then information shall be recorded by a police officer at the residence of the person or at a place convenient to such person in the presence of interpreter or special educator as the case may be.The recording of such information shall be video graphed. The police officer shall get statement of the person recorded through Judicial Magistrate.

Compensation to the addition of fine : The compensation payable by the state government u/s 357A shall be in addition to the payment of fine u/s 326A or 376D of the Indian Penal Code (section 357B).

Treatment of Victims :All hospitals public or private whether run by Central Government, State Government, local bodies or any other person shall immediately provide the first aid or medical treatment, free of cost, to the victims of any offence u/s 326A, 376, 376A, 376B, 376C, 376D, 376E of the Indian Penal Code and shall immediately inform to the police of such incident (sections 357C).   

                         The Hon'ble Supreme Court of India has directed all the state governments and union-territories of India to frame rules to regulate sale of the acid and other corrosive substances and also increase the compensation amount.

         

Traffic signs

Telegraphic message/Telegram and the law

                             Telegram service was started  in 1850 on an experimental basis between Kolkata and Diamond Harbour  by the East India Company. The  service was made available to the public in the year 1854. Telegram service which was harbinger of good and bad news was closed on 14^th July 2013. The annual income from the service was about 75 Lakh  whereas expenditure was about Rs 100 Crore to manage the service. Due to this, Government of India decided to close the service. Resulting, the service was closed on 14^th July, 2013. A lot has been written on telegram service for the last 1-2 days about its closure, but we will mention some of the facts about telegram  and law related  to telegram which are  mentioned very little and not explained :

• The telegram service was owned by BSNL (Bhartiya Sanchar Nigam Limited).
• The service was run through postal department.
• BSNL was providing training to the employees of postal department to work as Telegraph-operator.
• The duration of training was 9 months.
• The trained employees were getting one extra increment to work as Telegraph-operator.
• Postal department was charging Rs 3.50 for first ten words and after that 50 paisa per word.
• The service was replaced from postal department 5-6 years ago and was replaced by e-post which is exclusively owned postal department.
• BSNL  was booking telegrams in its own selected offices through its own employees.
• The charges for telegram were increased to Rs 27 per ten words in the year 2011.
• Due to advancement of technology and huge financial loss, services has been closed.

Telegram and its relevance to law : The telegram was registered under Indian Evidence Act and was admissible in the court of law as evidence and was helpful in proving the case. The telegrams were booked under the provisions of the telegraph act, 1885.

Presumption as to telegraphic messages : The court may presume that a message, forwarded from a telegraph office to the person to whom such message is addressed , corresponds with a message delivered  for transmission at the office from which the message purports to be sent, but the court shall not make any presumption as to the person by whom such message was delivered for transmission. This provision of presumption is under section 88 of the Indian Evidence Act.

Documents exempted from production :  As per Army Act, 1950; if any document in custody of the postal or telegraph authorities is, is in the opinion of the District Magistrate, High court or Session Court, wanted for purpose of court martial, such magistrate may require the postal or telegraph authorities, as the case may be to deliver such document to such document as such court may direct.

                    If any such document is, wanted for such purpose, any magistrate or commissioner of police or district superintendent of police may require postal or telegraph authorities to cause search to be made pending orders of any District Magistrate or High Court or Session Court.

Alternate of the telegram and new provisions of law : Telegram was booked through post offices by postal department on behalf of the BSNL earlier. The was stopped by postal department about 5-6 years ago and new service namely e-post (electronic post) was started after the computerisation of the post offices and introduction of the Internet services in the post offices. The e-post is owned by postal department. For each e-post, postal department charges Rs 10 irrespective of the words. The new act namely Information and Technology act, 2005 has been introduced by the Government of India with the advent of Internet and computers and new amendments have been made in the Indian Evidence Act :

Presumption as to electronic messages : The court may presume that an electronic message, forwarded by the originator through  an electronic mail server to the addressee to whom the message is addressed corresponds with the message as fed into computer for transmission; but the court shall not make any presumption as to the person by whom such message was sent (section 88A).

Some other important amendments in Indian Evidence Act :

• Any information contained in an electronic record which is printed on a paper , stored, recorded or copied in optical or magnetic media produced by a computer shall be deemed to be a document and be admissible in any proceeding , without  further proof or production of original as evidence(section 65B).
• The court shall presume that every electronic record for an agreement containing the digital signature of the parties was so concluded by affixing the digital signature of the parties(section 85A).
• In any proceeding involving a secure electronic record, court shall presume that record has not been altered in not proved otherwise (section 85B).
• The court shall presume, that the information in a digital signature is correct, except for information specified as subscriber information which has not been verified, if the certificate was accepted by the subscriber.

Type of documents in police file

                      

                              Any officer-in-charge of a police station/SHO can investigate any cognizable offence within the jurisdiction of the police station without any order of a magistrate. For which he is empowered u/s 156 criminal procedure code. On receipt of information of an offence, SHO himself proceed to the spot where offence has occurred or shall depute his subordinate officer to proceed to the spot to investigate the facts of the case u/s 157 Criminal Procedure code. While investigating the case, investigating officer enters his proceedings in a diary of the investigation on day to day basis, He enters full detail of the investigated case  in the diary, the time at which he begun  and closed his investigation every day. After  every case diary, he encloses the concerned documents. In this  way a file of investigation  is prepared which is submitted to the court for judicial verdict. Generally a police file of investigation contains following types of documents which are produced before trial court as evidence in the case and police file is made up of following types of documents which may vary from a few to thousands depending upon the evidence and type of the case :

• Copy of the FIR : Every information of a cognizable offence is entered in FIR register maintained at police station (u/s 154 CrPC). Copy of FIR is given free of cost to the complainant.

• Original application of the complainant, if any.

• Copy of daily diary entries : A daily diary register is maintained at every police station in which all the entries of the police station working are entered on day to day basis.  Copies of the entries related to the case under investigation are attached with case file as evidence.

• Spot inspection map : Investigating officer prepares  a map of place of occurrence of offence where he describes the place of occurrence  and attaches it with the case file.

• Seizure memo : The following type of articles are generally taken into possession during investigation of the case as evidence through seizure memo:

1. Documents
2. Weapon of offence
3. Other articles which are linked to commission of offence

                              The seizure memo is prepared in presence of two independent witnesses of the localities and articles seized  are sealed in their presence and  seizure memo is signed by the witnesses (u/s 100(4) CrPC).

• Documents taken into possession : All documents taken into possession through seizure memo during investigation of the case are attached with case file. Other documents like arrest report, bail-bonds, sureties  photographs  or any video, opinion of experts etc. are also attached with case file.

• Statements : Statements  in the case under investigation are recorded u/s 161 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The statements u/s 161 CrPC are not signed by the witnesses

• Final report of the case : Discussed in previous report.

• Conviction slip : Conviction slip is prepared by  officer-in-charge of a police station  and is attached with case file which is returned to the concerned police station by the court after the decision of the case.

   

                          

Final report of the case by police-how prepared ?

                            Police as an investigating agency investigates the case as per procedure laid down in the law. After completion of investigation, case file is sent to concerned court for judicial verdict. Police prepares final report as per section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code and presents supplementary report as per section 173(8) Criminal Procedure Code. Police presents final report (charge sheet) in three forms as :

• Challan

• Un-trace report

• Cancellation report

Challan : Police prepares final report (charge-sheet) as challan against the accused in the case and presents report in the court for trial. The trial against the accused is held in the court in his presence and accused is convicted or acquitted or discharged (procedure discussed in earlier posts).

Un-traced report : Final report is presented as un -traced if accused does not join investigation or police is unable to arrest the accused in the case.Case file is always open for investigation. if police gets any information about the accused even after filing the final report as un-traced, police again starts investigation and after completing the formalities of the investigation, presents final report in the court for trial.

                 If final report is filed as un-traced, accused is declared as proclaimed offender (P.O.) and separate record is maintained for the proclaimed offender's in the police-station. Proclaimed offenders are declared as per section 82 and 83 of the Criminal Procedure Code as :

Proclamation for person absconding : If on police report or by itself, any court has reason to believe that any person is absconding or concealing himself, court may publish proclamation requiring him to appear at a specified place or time not less than 30 day of the proclamation.If such person fails to appear in such a period, court may declare him proclaimed offender after following a procedure. Proclamation is issued u/s 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Attachment of property of person absconding : The court can order for the attachment of any property movable or immovable belonging to the the proclaimed offender. The  movable property is attached by seizure or appointment of a receiver and immovable property is attached by taking possession or appointment of receiver. If property is live-stock or perishable nature, court can order for immediate sale. Attachment of property is done u/s 83 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Record of evidence in absence of accused : If it is proved that accused  has absconded and there is no chance of his immediate arrest, the competent court can try such person in his absence and examine witnesses in produced in behalf of the prosecution. This evidence is recorded in u/s 299 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Cancellation report : After registration of the FIR, if the offences against the accused are not proved and allegations are found false. The investigating agency files the final report as cancellation report and recommends action u/s 182 of the Indian Penal Code against the complainant.

           False information, with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person (section 182 IPC) : Whoever gives to any public servant, any information which he knows or believes to be false, intending  to cause, or knowing it to be likely that he will thereby cause such public servant :

•  To do or omit anything which such public servant ought not to do or omit if the true state of facts respecting which such information is given were known by him, or
•  To use the lawful power of such public servant to the injury or annoyance of any person, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to six months, or with fine which may extend to one thousand rupees, or with both.