Larger SC bench to decide if FIR registration must

Some States claimed protection of Supreme Court judgments and said immediate registration of FIR wasn't mandatory. A report by Bhadra Sinha.

Should the police register an FIR immediately on receiving a complaint?

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The issue was on Tuesday referred to a larger bench of Supreme Court after a two-judge bench headed by Justice BN Aggarwal said it was unable to take a final call on it in wake of conflicting judgments delivered earlier by the apex court.

The court's direction came on a petition filed by a man whose daughter was allegedly kidnapped two months ago from Ghaziabad.

Acting on the petition, the bench had earlier issued notices to all the States, Union Territories and their respective Director Generals of Police and Commissioner. The bench had sought a response from them as to why the court should not issue directions to initiate action against police officials who failed to perform their duty.

Some States claimed protection of Supreme Court judgments and said immediate registration of FIR wasn't mandatory. There were some conflicting judgments that mandated the police to immediately file an FIR on receiving a complaint.

While issuing notice on Bhola Kamat's petition, the bench pulled up the police for its "callous approach."