The government is contemplating an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code, providing for a maximum of 10 years’ imprisonment to any individual who registers a false First Information Report at a police station.
The government hopes that this will act as a deterrent against those who file fabricated FIRs against others out of vested interests and to score points, according to official sources.
Significant move
The move is significant as the government has decided to ask the State governments and Union Territories to treat all complaints as FIRs.
The sources said the government felt that even if a complaint was false, the police would have to investigate it after registering an FIR. “If the complaint is found to be false, the police can always drop the FIR and take punitive action against the complainant,” an official said.
