NEW DELHI, Sept 29: The Law Commission has recommended that registration of e-FIRs should be allowed for all cognisable offences in cases where the accused is unknown and extended for all cognisable offences attracting a jail term of up to three years where the accused is known.
In its report submitted to the government on Wednesday and made public today, the panel said a limited roll-out of the e-FIR scheme in the initial phase would ensure that for the time being there is no disruption relating to the procedure adopted for reporting and investigation of serious offences.
Besides suggesting e-verification and mandatory declaration by the person lodging e-complaint or e-FIR, the panel proposed an added layer of safety to ensure the facility is not misused.
It said a minimum punishment of imprisonment and fine should be inflicted for false registration of e-complaints or e-FIR for which relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code can be amended.
It proposed setting up a centralised national portal to facilitate registration of e-FIRs.
The law panel also recommended that states may expand the list of offences for which e-FIRs are registered in future if the working of the system turns out to be effective.
The report “Amendment in Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for Enabling Online Registration of FIR” said e-FIRs will tackle long persisting issue of delay in the registration of FIRs and allow citizens to report crimes in real time.
In his letter to Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Law Commission Chairman Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi said, “Due to the march of technology, means of communication have progressed in leaps and bounds. In such a landscape, clinging on to an archaic system of registering FIRs does not augur well for criminal reforms.”
The report said the scheme of registration of e-FIRs cannot not be allowed in all cases and cited a Supreme Court judgment which allowed the preliminary enquiry before registration of FIR.
The top court had held that “the scope of preliminary enquiry is not to verify the veracity or otherwise of the information received but only to ascertain whether the information reveals any cognisable offence”.
The commission cautioned that a layman may not be aware of these legal intricacies and once registration of FIR by way of electronic means in all cases is allowed, it may cause extremely high investigative burden on police apart from curtailing its power to conduct preliminary enquiry in appropriate cases as is required under a clear mandate of the Supreme Court.
It said registration of e-complaint should be allowed for all non-cognisable offences as per section 155 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) as is being currently done in all the states and union territories. (PTI)
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