Law panel recommends formation of national portal for registration of e-FIR

The 22nd Law Commission, chaired by Justice (retd) Ritu Raj Awasthi, has, in its latest Report, advocated for creation of a Centralised National Portal to facilitate the registration of an e-FIR.

On a reference made by the Union Home Ministry in 2018, the panel was examining the feasibility of amending Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (CrPC) in order to enable online registration of FIRs.

The Commission said that enabling registration of e-FIR would tackle the long persisting issue of delay in registration of FIRs allowing citizens to report crimes in real time.

"Further, the said move would also align with the National e-Governance Plan of Government of India," it added.

The law panel suggested that registration of e-FIR should be enabled in a "phased manner", beginning with offences bearing a punishment of upto three years imprisonment.

"This would allow the relevant stakeholders to test the efficacy of the proposed system, and at the same time, keep the possible misuse of such a facility to a bare minimum," it said.

The Commission said that if the proposed system is found effective, its ambit could be extended through subsequent amendment.

At present, under the aegis of Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS), eight states already allow registration of e-FlRs and other states have facilitated online registration of complaints which may be converted into an FIR later.

During preparation of report, the law panel had extensive consultation with Crime Records Bureau and the Bureau of Police Research & Development, academicians, advocates, senior Police Officers, etc.

In 2017, the DGPs/IGPs Conference had suggested that there should be an amendment in Section 154 of the CrPC for enabling online registration of FIRs.