If you are a woman, be ready to face problems in filing FIR
Shemin Joy
New Delhi, Aug 8 (PTI) If you are a woman approachinga police station to get an FIR lodged, chances are that youmay go unheard or be ill-treated by the men and women inkhaki.
But if a person is accompanied by a group of socialactivists or local politicians, the treatment he or she getsat the police station is different, according to a studycommissioned by the Bureau of Police Research and Development(BPRD).
The pilot study on "Registration of FIRs by Police ina Metropolitan City" was conducted by Mumbai's Tata Instituteof Social Sciences.
"If a woman goes on her own then she is abused or notheard...foul language is sometimes used and uncomfortablecomments may be passed when a woman visits police station,"the report authored by Vijay Raghavan and Kavisha Mann states.
BPRD Director General Kiran Bedi says this trend isnot confined to a particular region or area. "You can see itall across the country. To get an FIR registered is aherculean task for anyone these days."
Advocating the need for reforms in police, Bedi toldPTI, "the common man is individually weak and FIR is a statemonopoly. Everyone cannot approach a magistrate to get his orher complaint registered and even organised groups have theirlimitations."
The study, which covered a number of police stationsin an undisclosed region in Mumbai, also says the behaviour ofwomen constables was "equally rude and not different" fromthat of their male counterparts.
The educational and social background of thecomplainant also influences the police in how they deal withthe case, says the report.
It also states political pressure from within thesystem not to file FIRs was "high" as the registration ofcrime was an indicator of the performance of the ruling party.
"One of the police personnel interviewed hinted thatthere is no freedom with the police at the ground level toregister FIRs as this leads to 'rising crime rates' which isfrowned upon by their seniors and political bosses," it says.
There were also instances that FIRs were not filedbecause the accused had a "very good rapport" with the policeand a "regular source of income" for them.
The study states police informers could also influencethe registration of case.
In one particular incident recorded in the report, aninformer got a woman arrested in a case of kidnapping, wherethere was a possibility that he was taking revenge for a fightthat took place between two parties.
"Factors such as overload of cases, under staffing,cumbersome procedures and red tape, mischievous and falsecomplaints, pressure from political masters to under reportcrime...(are) leading to the reluctance on the part of thepolice to register complaints," it says.
The Supreme Court, in its judgement last year, had said that it is the "statutory" duty of the police to registerand investigate a case on receipt of an information. PTI
(Photo: FIR on Indira Gandhi's assassination)
