Non-registration of FIR in cognisable offences violates rights of victims and leads to "definite" lawlessness in society, the Supreme Court today said making it mandatory for police officials to lodge case on such complaints.
Expressing concern over the non-registration of FIR, a five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam said, "Number of FIRs not registered is approximately equivalent to the number of FIRs actually registered."
"Keeping in view NCRB figures that show that about 60 lakh cognisable offences were registered in India during the year 2012, the burking of crime may itself be in the range of about 60 lakh every year. Thus, it is seen that such a large number of FIRs are not registered every year, which is a clear violation of the rights of the victims of such a large number of crimes," the bench said.
"Burking of crime leads to dilution of the rule of law in the short run; and also has a very negative impact on the rule of law in the long run since people stop having respect for rule of law. Thus, non-registration of such a large number of FIRs leads to a definite lawlessness in the society," the apex court said.
The Constitution Bench delivered the verdict after a three-judge bench referred the case to the larger bench on the ground that there were conflicting judgements on the issue.
