E-Paper
U.P. Police bar cops from calling complainants sans diary entry
U.P. director general of police (DGP) Prashant Kumar issued a circular, dated May 23, 2025, to seven police commissionerates and district police chiefs across the state to issue clear instructions to investigating officers and enquiry officers to not call complainants over phone without mentioning in the case diary and general diary.
In a bid to curb corruption and ensure greater transparency, the Uttar Pradesh Police have directed their personnel not to contact complainants over the phone without first mentioning the reason in the case diary or general diary.
There have been frequent allegations that police officers demand money from complainants over the phone in exchange for favourable reports. The UP Police have had a tainted past in this regard. Recently, the Allahabad high court raised had concerns over such complaints and directed the police to take corrective measures.
U.P. director general of police (DGP) Prashant Kumar issued a circular, dated May 23, 2025, to seven police commissionerates and district police chiefs across the state to issue clear instructions to investigating officers and enquiry officers to not call complainants over phone without mentioning in the case diary and general diary. The circular further stated that the cops should mention the details of conversation with the complainants over the phone to curb corrupt practices and corruption allegations.
Former U.P. DGP Arvind Kumar Jain, who remained the state police head for six months between February and July 2015, explained that a case diary, also known as a special diary in some states, is a record maintained by every police officer to document their daily investigation proceedings in a specific case. It’s a continuous record of the investigation progress, detailing the time and place of probe, information received, and circumstances ascertained. He said the circular stated that even investigating officers (IO) should mention the details of calls made to complainants in the case diary to help avoid baseless allegations of corruption and make the investigation process more transparent.
Jain further explained that similarly, a general diary (GD) is a record maintained by every police station to document all daily activities and incidents within their jurisdiction. The GD serves as an internal record of events, including the arrival and departure of officers, arrests, property seized, complaints, and other relevant information, he said.
“A GD entry is essentially a preliminary record of an incident, and it may or may not lead to a first information report (FIR) being registered. This practice will make it clear why it was necessary to call the complainants,” he added.
The DGP issued this circular following the Allahabad high court order, dated May 8, 2025, in which he was asked to issue directives to cops to not demand money from complainants for filing counter-affidavits by contacting them over the phone. The court issued this order while hearing a petition filed by one Kamlesh Kumar on May 5, 2025, alleging that an investigating officer in a complaint filed by him demanded money for filing a counter-affidavit in his favour.
