how can i know FIR no.

A citizen, victim can only make a complaint stating the facts, and the FIR is a copy provided by Station house officer, acknowledging the receipt of such complaint, the sections under which that crime was registered, the person that was entrusted with such investigation, and the date on which it was sent to Magistrate court.

So, the duty of complainant is only to state facts in writing, or signing the statement heard and reduced in writing by such employees in Police station.  A citizen/complainant is not expected to know or state any law, and it is the duty of the concerned official that has to study the complaint and state such sections in FIR.

1. You can file an RTI Application (with 10/- Court Fee stamp) to the concerned Police station or even before the District Police Commissioner or SP office, asking for "Certified Copies" of any NC /FIR that may have been registered against you since last 12 months.

2. You should be able to get all such related information in about 45 days time.

Keep Smiling .... Hemant Agarwal
VISIT: www.chshelpforum.com

Police dept., is expected to upload the FIRs in their website and  when the information is uploaded, it is not treated as under custody of State Public Information Officer, and hence invariably quote "CERTIFIED COPIES" in case of those documents those require uploading in their websites.

RTI is not applicable.

For that information uploaded on websites, the information is not treated under the custody of Public Information Officer and one can not seek copy of that information (Ordinary copy is one form of information)

But in case fo "Certified copies", a form of information, RTI is applicable and SPIO must provide such certified copies after collecting copying fees at Rs.2/- per A4 size copy.  

There can not be an iota of doubt on such application of RTI for FIR certified copies.

Shri G. L. N. Prasad

I always welcome criticism and I respect your above criticism.

I, nevertheless, am not convinced in view of Section 8 (h) & (j) of Right To Information Act.     

I need further clarification.

Reddy garu,

I have secured several certified copies of such FIR under RTI Act.  Unless I am sure, I dare not post such things in the expert forum where surgical operations take place daily.

Select one and seek such information under RTI as it costs Rs.28/- only (Rs.10/- RTI fee + Rs.17 local speed post).

Since FIR is a public document, a certified copy is provided to the complainant initially.

Police do not usually encourage citizens asking to know their filed FIR status. So, RTI for FIR can be filed, and then status can be checked for the recorded FIR.

There is a lot being done to bring transparency and accountability, to reduce corruption in state/ central institutions. The Right to Information Act of 2005 is one such act which aims to help the citizens have information at their fingertips and get true facts from the authorities.

The First Information Report (FIR) is an important legal document to report a criminal offence to the police. 

The Station House Officer(SHO) of a police station is legally required to register an FIR after a complaint as given by an aggrieved victim or citizen.

A summary of the crime is usually kept on record in the FIR along with the entire details of the investigation process. Registering an FIR starts the justice process and requires the police to investigate.

• After the crime is reported, the FIR is filed.

• Since FIR is a public document, a certified copy is provided to the complainant initially.

• The copy of the FIR recorded after the crime is reported and given to the aggrieved.

• Police do not usually encourage citizens asking to know their filed FIR status. So, RTI for FIR can be filed, and then status can be checked for the recorded FIR.

The RTI for FIR is to get investigation details like documentary evidences etc.

If you seek the evidences available on record, you will get all the official copies of evidence available to the police. If the evidence is on record and is ignored or if they have charge-sheeted the case without considering the evidence, the misconduct can be shown at a later stage in court. You cannot seek their opinion in a RTI as to why the evidence was not considered.

The replies are leading to another topic not concerned with the main query.  The query is simple " How to know FIR Number" and simple common practice is going to the police station and seeking such number, or seeking upload link address and getting a screen print with such date of print or seeking certified copy under RTI Act.

Now this simple post is leading to RTI and leading to some other unrelated issues and the discussion though not relevant is important and otherwise relevant in general to these issues.

Every citizen is entitled to get that information that is in the custody of the State Public Information officer that is not exempted, and as per Kerala HC Judgment, FIR and charge sheet etc., can be secured under RTI Act.  Another issue is on providing information on evidence not admitted.  It is absolutely true that a citizen can not seek opinions etc., but if such opinions are reduced in writing as record or office note on a document, one can seek such information.  Even when such office notes are not admitted, a complaint can be filed to SP of Police in writing to Investigating officer stating the reasons for relevance and importance of information and after one month, a simple RTI Application can be filed seeking action taken on such complaint/grievance with up to date documented office notes as certified copies.    As the process in court is a long drawn procedure, one can resort to RTI through several indirect means.