Law panel recommends limited roll out of e-FIR system; maximum two-year imprisonment for false FIRs

Satya Prakash

New Delhi, September 29

In tune with India’s progressive Digital India mission and National e-Governance Plan, the Law Commission has recommended allowing the registration of e-FIR for all cognizable offences where the accused is not known and the registration of such reports for all cognizable offences with a maximum punishment of three years where the identity of the accused is known.

“Due to the march of technology, means of communication have progressed in leaps and bounds. In such a landscape, clinging on to an archaic system of registering FIRs does not augur well for criminal reforms,” the Commission said in its 282th report on ‘Amendment in Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 for Enabling Online Registration of FIR’.

“The Commission, therefore, is of the considered view that registration of e-FIR be enabled in a phased manner, beginning with offences bearing a punishment of up to three years imprisonment. This would allow the relevant stakeholders to test the efficacy of the proposed system, and at the same time, keep the possible misuse of such a facility to a bare minimum,” the Commission headed by Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi said.

“The Commission is of the considered opinion that enabling registration of e-FIR would tackle the long persisting issue of delay in registration of FIRs allowing citizens to report crimes in real time. Further, the said move would also align with the National e-Governance Plan of Government of India,” the report said.

It also recommended amending Section 182 IPC to provide for a maximum punishment of two-year-imprisonment for lodging false FIRs.

The Commission suggested that a Centralised National Portal should be created to facilitate the registration of e-FIR. A procedure to implement the same has been suggested by the Commission in this Report.

Submitted to Minister of State for Law and Justice (Independent Charge) Arjun Ram Meghwal, it also recommended that States may expand the list of offences for which e-FIR may be registered in future, if the working of registration of e-FIR turns out to be effective.

The Commission – which advises the Government on legal issues – also recommended suitable amendments not only to the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 but also to the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and other legislation to support e-FIR registration.

“All e-FIRs should be forwarded to the Courts concerned by linking the website of police with the e-Courts portal. This can be achieved by using the Interoperable Criminal Justice System (ICJS), which allows digital signing of e-FIR and automatically sending it to the court,” said the Law Commission whose recommendations are not binding on the Government.

“If it is found that the proposed system is indeed working effectively, the ambit of the same can be extended through subsequent amendments,” it added.

The Ministry of Home Affairs had in June 2018 requested the Commission to study the feasibility of amending Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) in order to enable online registration of FIRs.