The First Information Report is the document every criminal case in Pakistan is built on. Get it right and the investigation has a spine. Get it wrong - or fail to get it registered at all - and you spend the next year fighting about procedure instead of the offence.
When the police must register an FIR
Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 requires the officer in charge of a police station to reduce to writing any information he receives about a cognizable offence. Cognizable offences are those the police may investigate without a magistrate's order; Schedule II of the CrPC tells you which ones they are. Theft, robbery, hurt, kidnapping, fraud in most forms, and offences under special laws such as the Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2016 all fall in this category.
Three points follow from section 154 that people are routinely talked out of at the counter:
- Registration is a duty, not a discretion. The officer is not entitled to first satisfy himself that the complaint will succeed at trial.
- The FIR must be read over to the informant and signed by them.
- A copy must be given to the informant free of cost.
If the offence is non-cognizable, section 155 applies instead: the police make an entry in the station diary and refer you to a magistrate, who may then direct an investigation.
Writing the complaint so it survives cross-examination
The FIR is not a pleading and it does not need to be exhaustive. What it does need to be is consistent with everything you will say later, because defence counsel will read it line by line against your testimony.
- State the date, time and place as precisely as you honestly can. If you are unsure, say approximately - do not guess a precise time you cannot defend.
- Name the accused you can name, and describe the ones you cannot. Do not add names to be safe; a name in the FIR that the evidence does not support damages the whole document.
- List the witnesses who were actually present.
- Describe the injuries or the property in plain terms, with amounts and identifying details.
- Say what you did immediately afterwards - hospital, bank, neighbours - because that is what corroborates you.
Where there are injuries, get a medico-legal examination the same day. Where money moved, keep the bank record. Where the offence happened online, preserve the evidence before you complain.
What to do when the SHO refuses
Refusal is common, and there is a defined escalation route. Work through it in order and keep a paper trail at each step.
- Written application to the SHO. Hand it in and get a diary number or a receipt. A verbal refusal is unprovable; a refusal on top of a written application is evidence.
- Complaint to the district police officer - the DPO, SSP or CPO depending on the district - and to the Regional Police Officer. Attach the earlier application.
- Petition under section 22-A(6) CrPC to the Ex-Officio Justice of the Peace, which in practice means the Sessions Judge or an Additional Sessions Judge. This is the standard remedy: the court hears the police, and where a cognizable offence is disclosed it directs registration. It is a supervisory jurisdiction, so bring the documents that show a cognizable offence on the face of it.
- Private complaint under section 200 CrPC directly before a magistrate. This bypasses the police entirely - the magistrate records your statement and may take cognizance, or may direct an investigation under section 156(3).
A constitutional petition is available in principle but is rarely the right first move; the courts expect the section 22-A route to be exhausted.
After registration
The investigation officer must complete the investigation and submit a report - the challan - under section 173 CrPC. The Code contemplates this happening within fourteen days, and delay beyond that has to be explained. During the investigation you can expect a section 161 statement to be recorded from you and from your witnesses; read it before you sign it.
If the police submit the case in Column II - effectively recommending the accused be discharged - you are entitled to be heard by the magistrate before that is accepted.
Two cautions
First, a knowingly false FIR is itself an offence: section 182 of the Pakistan Penal Code punishes giving false information to a public servant, and a malicious prosecution invites civil liability. Second, do not enter into a private settlement of a non-compoundable offence in the belief that it ends the case - many offences cannot be compounded, and an FIR once registered is not simply withdrawn on request.
This article explains general procedure under Pakistani law and is not legal advice on any particular matter. Procedure varies between provinces and the law changes. Speak to an advocate about your own facts before you act.