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13. Chapter XII Cr.P.C. relates to information to the police and their powers to investigate. The opening words of Section 154 Cr.P.C. imply that there has to be an FIR about an incident which constitutes a cognizable offence. (Anju Chaudhary v. State of Uttar Pradesh4). An information, given under sub-section (1) of Section 154 Cr.P.C, is commonly known as the FIR though this term is not used in the Code. It is the earliest and the first information of a cognizable offence recorded by an officer-in-charge of a police station and marks the commencement of the investigation. The investigating agency has to proceed only on information about the commission of a cognizable offence which is first entered in the police station diary, by the Officer In-charge. (T.T. Antony1; Babubhai2). Section 154(1) Cr.P.C contains four mandates to an officer in charge of a police station. The first enjoins that every information, relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally, shall be reduced to writing; the second directs that it be read over to the informant; the third requires that every such information, whether given in writing or reduced to writing, shall be signed by the informant and the fourth is that the substance of such information shall be entered in the station house diary. A further directive is contained in sub-section (1) of Section 157 CrPC that, immediately on receipt of the information, the officer in charge of the police station shall send a report of every cognizable offence to a Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence and then proceed to investigate the facts and circumstances of the case. (T.T. Antony1; Bijoy Singh v. State of Bihar5).

19. Where more information than one are given in respect of the same incident, involving one or more than one cognizable offences, it is implied in Section 154 Cr.P.C that the officer in charge of a police station need not enter every one of them in the station house diary. It is the information first entered therein which is the FIR postulated by Section 154 Cr.P.C. All other subsequent information made orally or in writing after the commencement of the investigation, or such other cognizable offences as may come to the notice of the police officer during investigation, are statements falling under Section 162 Cr.P.C. and cannot be treated as an FIR as it would in effect be a second FIR, (T.T. Antony1; Babubhai2), will amount to an improvement of the facts mentioned in the original complaint, and hence prohibited under Section 162 Cr.P.C. (Upkar Singh v. Ved Prakash22; T.T. Antony1). The distinction between an information relating to a cognizable offence under Section 154 and a statement under Section 161(3) is that, while the former is required to be signed by the person giving the information, in the latter the statement of the witness is, in terms of Section 162 Cr.P.C, not required to be signed by him. While the information, referred to in Section 154 Cr.P.C, results in commencement of investigation of a cognizable offence by a police officer, the statement under Section 161/162 Cr.P.C. is recorded during the course of the investigation and is among the inputs available to the investigation officer in forming an opinion whether or not there is sufficient evidence or a reasonable ground to forward the accused to the Magistrate. The nature of information received under Section 154 and the names of the witnesses, whose statements are recorded under Section 161 and 162 Cr.P.C, also form part of the police report under Section 173 (2) and (5) Cr.P.C. The report as envisaged by Section 173(2) has to be accompanied, as required by sub-section (5), by all the documents and statements of the witnesses therein mentioned. One cannot divorce the details which the report must contain as required by sub-section (2) from its accompaniments which are required to be submitted under sub-section (5). The whole of it is submitted as a report to the Court. (Satya Narain Musadi v. State of Bihar23).

24. Section 154 Cr.P.C. places an unequivocal duty upon, and gives no discretion to, the police officer in charge of a police station to register an FIR on receipt of information that a cognizable offence has been committed. (Anju Chaudhary4; State of Uttar Pradesh v. Bhagwant Kishore Joshi27). Non- registration of a crime is violation of a human right. Articles 9, 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948 (UDHR), Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966 (ICCPR) and Articles 14 and 21 of the Indian Constitution ensure the right to the procedure established by law and injunct that a person shall not be deprived of his dignity, life and liberty except in accordance with the fair procedure established by law'. Article 8 of UDHR and Articles 3(a), 3(c) of ICCPR, Articles 14 and 21 of Constitution read with Section 154 CrPC make it clear that, if a cognizable offence is not registered and investigated, it would result in violation of human rights. (Uppalapati Nirupa Rani v. Koganti Lakshmi28).

30. Registration of a complaint, under Section 154 Cr.P.C, is not victim- specific but is information-centric. Emphasis thereunder is on the information in the complaint and not on the complainant. Section 154(1) Cr.P.C stresses on the requirement of reducing every "information", relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, into writing i.e., registration of the "information" otherwise called an F.I.R. No matter who the informant is, as long as the information received relates to the commission of a cognizable offence, Section 154(1) Cr.P.C mandates the officer, in charge of a Police Station, to reduce the information into writing and enter the substance thereof in a book kept by such an officer. While the victim would, undoubtedly, be aggrieved on a congnizable offence having been committed against him, it is not only he but anyone else, in the know of such an offence having been committed, who can also convey such information to the officer in-charge of a police station. This can be better explained by way an illustration. If one offence is committed against several persons each of them would be a "victim" as defined in Section 2(wa) Cr.P.C, whereunder a person who has suffered any loss or injury caused by reason of the act or omission, for which an accused person is charged, is a "victim" including his or her guardian or legal heir. Any one of such victims can inform the police officer of a cognizable offence having been committed and such information is required to be reduced into writing (i.e., an FIR). Once an FIR is registered the investigation thereinto would include all victims and not merely the victim who has provided information to the police. The necessity of the other "victims" giving complaints becomes superfluous as the information, relating thereto, has already been recorded as an FIR. There is no provision in the Cr.P.C. which confers a right on each of the victims to make a complaint, or a corresponding obligation on the police officer to register each of them as an FIR, when an FIR has already been registered in the police station with respect to the said occurrence/incident.