Make Available FIR Copies to Accused: Kerala High Court

Indian Express: Kochi: Tuesday, 01 December 2015.

The Kerala High Court on Monday held that the police should make available a copy of the First Information Report(FIR) to the accused within two days of applying.

The court also held that an FIR copy can be obtained from the court of the concerned magistrate to whom the report would have been sent within two working days from the date of application.  The court further observed that an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act could be filed by any person for a copy of an FIR.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice A M Shaffique passed the order while disposing of a petition filed by Jiju Lukose, Athirampuzha, seeking a directive to upload an FIR copy on the police website and to make available its copies.

The delay in getting an FIR copy will result in its falsification. If a person faced the threat of being apprehended, he had to know the allegations in the FIR, the petitioner pointed out.

The Bench directed the state government to take a decision within three months, on categories of cases in which FIR copies with details could be uploaded on the website. The court ordered that FIR copies sought under RTI Act be made available to any person unless the case did not come under the purview of exemption under Section 8 (1) of the Act. The government opposed the plea and submitted that uploading FIR copies was not practical due to various reasons. In fact, copies of certain FIRs could not be made public in the interest of national and intentional security. The police had the right to decline such FIRs even under Section 8(1) (b) of the RTI Act. The government had not taken a policy decision on the kind of cases in which the FIR could be uploaded on the police website and at what stage.

The court stated that police stations were connected to website and that many had access to online application under the RTI Act. The government should take a decision on the categories of cases in which an FIR can be uploaded. The state was obliged to take a decision as it had already taken steps for advancing technologies.