The Supreme Court has once again clarified that police officers are not required to check the truth or reliability of a complaint before registering a First Information Report (FIR). If the contents of a complaint indicate a cognizable offence on the face of it, the police are duty-bound to register the FIR.
“The responsibility of the police is to record an FIR whenever a cognizable offence is apparent. At this stage, the officers are not expected to assess the genuineness or credibility of the complaint,” the Court stated.
Referring to its earlier decision in Ramesh Kumari v. State (NCT of Delhi) (2006) 2 SCC 677, the Court reiterated that authenticity of the information is not a prerequisite for registering an FIR.
This ruling came from a bench consisting of Justice Pankaj Mithal and Justice Prasanna B. Varale, which upheld the Delhi High Court’s directive to file FIRs against former Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar and Inspector Vinod Kumar Pandey. The complaints, dating back to 2000, alleged acts of intimidation, forgery, and falsification of records during their tenure with the CBI.
