FIR outside jurisdiction: Issue notification says HC

Come October, no police station can turn down any complaint based on territorial jurisdiction as the Karnataka High Court has directed the state government to issue notification within a month for the same.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay S Oka and Justice Mohammed Nawaz gave the order while hearing a public interest petition filed by advocate S Umapathy on Thursday.

The bench directed that police shall not ask the territorial jurisdiction over the place of the offence, and registering FIR is must as the per guidelines issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs to the state governments. The police should transfer the FIR to the police station concerned under Section 166 A of the Indian Panel Code.

The bench said the government notification should also lay down the guidelines prescribing the action against the personnel who refuse to file an FIR citing territorial jurisdiction. The refusal to file an FIR should be a punishable offence, the court added.

However, the court clarified that opening FIR centres in the city were a policy matter and that the FIR centres were not mandatory. Thus, the court could not direct the government to open FIR centres in the city.

The petitioner sought the direction to open FIR centres again. The first FIR centre was inaugurated by then Home Minister G Parameshwara at a mall on November 14, 2014.