Policemen welcome FIR order

Bharti Jain & Deeptiman Tiwary TNN 

New Delhi: Though senior IPS officials on Tuesday welcomed the Supreme Court order mandating registration of FIRs in cognizable offences, saying it would help police records reflect the actual incidence of crime, the more pragmatic voices doubted if the police, with their limited manpower and resources, could handle the deluge of FIRs it would entail. 
    A senior home ministry official said the apex court had only endorsed what was already there in the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). “The CrPC has provisions that require an FIR to be registered in all cognizable offences. However, this was not being implemented, as police, in order to show minimal rise in crime within their jurisdiction, often under-reported criminal activity,” the official said. 
    “The SC ruling aims to eliminate this tendency… police officers will now be under obligation to register FIR for every cognizable crime committed, or else face action. This will ensure that a true picture emerges of criminal activity in a given area,” the official said. 
    He added that recording of increased levels of crime may serve as a sound basis for the police to seek more manpower and resources. 
    However, police officers on the ground did not seem to share this optimism, and pointed to the “practical difficulties” in implementing the order. A Mumbai police officer said, “The order, as reflected in the media, demands immediate registration of FIR in all cognizable cases. This means even a theft of Rs 500 is to be dealt with an FIR. We are looking at a 10-fold increase in the number of FIRs in such a scenario,” he said.

Source:::: The Times of India, 13-11-2013, p.11,  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=TOINEW&BaseHref=TOIM/2013/11/13&PageLabel=15&EntityId=Ar01500&ViewMode=HTML