Full form of FIR is “First Information Report”. Generally speaking, it is the first information received by the police about the commission of a cognizable offence. Such information is registered as FIR under Section 154 Cr.P.C.
FIR is generally registered immediately after the commission of the offence. At such initial stage, even full details of the offence may not always be available, e.g., who has committed the offence, how the offence was committed. It goes without saying that at the time of registration of the FIR, in most of the cases, no evidence is available. It is during the investigation of the FIR that the police collects evidence / material to examine whether the offence has actually been committed, and if so, who has committed the offence and what is the evidence to support that. Thus, generally speaking, in most of the cases, evidence is collected during investigation.
Since FIR is merely the “first information” of an offence, and at that stage it is not expected that evidence would be available in support of the complaint being registered as FIR, it goes without saying that FIR can be registered without evidence being available.
What is needed is the report about the commission of a cognizable offence. If a cognizable offence appears to have been committed, as per the complaint, police is bound to register the FIR. At that stage, evidence is not insisted upon.
Thus, FIR can be filed without evidence being available at that stage.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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