1. Recording of information in General Diary: Officer-in-charge of a police station can record any information in G.D U/S 44 Police Act 1861.
44. Police officers to keep diary – It shall be the duty of every officer in charge of a police station to keep a general diary in such form shall, from time to time, be prescribed by the State Government and to record therein all complaints and charges preferred, the names of all persons arrested, the names of the complainants, the offences charged against them, the weapons or property that shall have been taken from their possession or otherwise, and the names of the witnesses who shall have been examined.
The Magistrate of the district shall be at liberty to call for and inspect such diary.
2. Non-cognizable information: O/C of a Police station has no power to investigate a non–
Cognizable information, he can record it in G.D U/S 155 CrPC or 44 Police Act and ask the
informant to seek for an order from a competent court for investigation/enquiry of such
information (245 PRB).
3. FIR (Cognizable Information): should be recorded by O/C himself (243 PRB) and investigation should be carried out by himself or any other officer as per his direction (244 PRB).
4. Report to magistrate about cognizable offence at once: 245 PRB.
245. Cognizable offence referred by Magistrate. – (a) When a Magistrate directs the police to enquire into the complaint of a cognizable offence, of which no previous information has been laid before the police, the written information sent by the Magistrate to the police shall be treated as the first information.
(b) In every case referred to the police for enquiry a date shall be fixed by the Magistrate by which the report or an explanation of the cause of delay shall reach him.
5. Despatch of FIR to other Superior Officer: 246PRB.
6. List of property stolen/misappropriated to be obtained from the informant: 247 PRB.
7. Information of heinous crime occurring outside jurisdiction: 248 PRB.
8. Searches and seizure list u/s 100, 102,165,166 of CrPC: 280 PRB.
280. Searches. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – (a) The law in regard to searches is contained in Chapter VII and sections 102 and 103, 165 and 166, Code of Criminal Procedure. These sections must be scrupulously followed. The officer conducting a search should take precautions to prevent the possibility, on the one hand, of any article being introduced into the house without the knowledge of the inmates, and on the other, of any articles being taken out of the house while the search is in progress. Search should be made in the presence of the owner or some one on his behalf. The presence of search witnesses [vide clause (h) below] must not be looked upon merely as a formality, but they must actually be eye-witnesses to the whole search and must be able to see clearly where each article is found. They should then sign the search list (B.P. Form No. 44). If any search witness be illiterate, it should be read over to him and his left thumb impression should be taken on it. Where the witnesses do not know English, it should be written in the vernacular. The suspected person whose property is seized, should, if present at the search, also be asked to sign the list. Should he refuse, a note will be made to this effect and it should be certified to by the witnesses. The suspected person, or in his absence, the person in charge oi the house or place searched, should be given a copy of the search list. He will be given an opportunity of comparing it with the original and be asked to sign an acknowledgement for the copy of the original list. Should he refuse, a note to that effect should be made and should be certified to by witnesses. In cases where no property is seized the search list should be crossed vertically and signed by the search witnesses and the owner of the house.
(b) Only searches for any specific article, which is known, or reasonably suspected to be in any particular place or in the possession of any particular person, can be made without warrants. General searches without warrants are illegal and the only search which can be made without warrant is under section 165, Code of Criminal Procedure. There must be some specific thing necessary for purposes of investigation and there must be reasonable ground for believing that it is in a particular place and that delay in search is likely to interfere with the recovery of property. The police officer must record in his diary (i) the ground of his belief and (ii) the thing he is looking for, and must as soon as practicable send a copy of such record to the nearest Magistrate empowered to take cognizance of the offence [section 165 (ii), Code of Criminal Procedure]. No place should be searched without a warrant merely because the occupier is a registered bad character or absconding offender. Such a search should be made only under the circumstances given in section 165, Code of Criminal Procedure, and when the police officer has reason to believe that the thing searched for will be found in the place to be searched. Provided that reasonable suspicion exists and a definite article (or articles) is (or are) searched for, the police are entitled to search the house of an absconding offender, whether he has been proclaimed or not. Police officers should note in their diaries the reasons for search, though they are not obliged to give the name of the person upon whose information they act. The name, father’s name and residence, etc., of any person producing keys of any locked receptacles or claiming ownership of articles seized should always be noted in the case diary.
(c) Under section 165(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the officer-in-charge of the police-station or the investigating officer, who must not be below the rank of Sub-Inspector, must, if practicable, perform the actual search in person. Only when he is incapacitated from so doing can he depute another officer to make the search and when he does so depute another officer he must first of all record his reasons for doing so and then give written orders to the officer deputed specifying what the search is for and where it is to be made. A verbal order given on the spot will not fulfil the requirements of the section.
(d) Before the commencement of the search the person of every police officer who is to conduct it, as also that of every witness and informer shall be examined before the witnesses and the owner of the house or his representative.
(e) The law does not require a search under the Code of Criminal Procedure, to be made by daylight, except those under section 14 of the Opium Act, 1878, but there are advantages in searching by daylight, and a searching officer should consider whether a house-search should proceed by night or whether daylight should be awaited. Matters must be so arranged as to cause as little inconvenience as possible to the inmates, and especially the women.
(f) When suspected property is found in a house all the property in the house is not to be seized. Property seized must be either alleged or suspected to have been stolen or found under circumstances which create a suspicion of the commission of an offence, and nothing can justify the seizure of the whole of a man’s property because he is suspected of having stolen some particular article or articles.
(g) The number of witnesses required to attend a house-search depends on the circumstances of each particular case, and no hard-and-fast rule can be laid down. The witnesses selected should be residents of the same or adjoining villages. If necessary, such residents may be served with an order in writing to attend and witness the search.
(h) Care should be taken that the witnesses are, so far as possible, unconnected with any of the parties concerned or with the police, so that they may be regarded as quite independent. Whenever possible, the presence of the Panchayat or headman of the village shall be obtained to witness a search. Under no circumstances should a spy or habitual drunkard or any one of doubtful character be called as a search witness. Reasons for rejecting any person as a witness to the search should be noted in the case diary.
(i) Whenever it becomes necessary for a search to be made for arms illegally possessed, a warrant must invariably be obtained under section 25 of the Indian Arms Act, 1878 (XI of 1878) from a Magistrate. Such searches can only be conducted by, or in the presence of, an officer of, or above, the rank of Sub-Inspector. No police officer is authorized of his own motion to make a search for arms illegally possessed (vide section 30 of the Act).
(j) In order to satisfy the Court as to the identity of articles alleged to have been discovered at a house-search and to prevent irregularities, the officer conducting a search under sections 103 and 165, Code of Criminal Procedure, shall prepare a list in triplicate in B. P. Form No. 44 of the property of which he has taken possession and shall forward it to the Court officer by the first available dak after the search together with a report regarding the search. One copy of this list will be sent to the Court officer together with copies of the records prescribed under section 165(5) of the Code. One copy of the list only shall be given to the householder or his representative and the third copy will remain with the investigating officer. On receipt in the Court office, this list shall be stamped with the date of receipt and the record put up before the Magistrate. Investigating officers are required to note carefully the instructions contained in the headings of the form and are enjoined to conduct searches under such conditions that there may be no room for suspicion on the part of the witnesses that articles have been surreptitiously introduced by them or their constables or chaukidars, or anyone whatever under their influence, with a view to their being included in the list of property actually discovered in the place under search. Witnesses should be allowed free access to the place being searched and be given every facility to see and to hear everything that transpires.
All articles or weapons found at a house-search or on the person of a prisoner shall be carefully labelled and if a charge-sheet is submitted in the case, shall be sent to the Court officer. The labels shall be signed by the officer conducting the search.
(k) If the warrant is issued in form No. 8 of Schedule V of the Code of Criminal Procedure, or if the search is made without a warrant or on a warrant issued under section 98 of the Code, the police are not authorized to take away anything except the specified thing for which the search was directed or made, but in all cases in which the Magistrate proceeds under paragraphs 3 and 4, sub-section (1) of section 96 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, and directs in his warrant that there should be a general search followed by a more careful inspection at the police-station or some other convenient place, papers and documents and other articles need not be examined and initialled piece by piece in situ. They should be collected and packed in bundles. These bundles or receptacles should be closed or locked, as the case may be, and must in all cases be sealed or marked by the search witnesses and entered in the search lists. For instance, the contents of a desk drawer should be collected, packed together and marked and initialled by the search witnesses. For example, it might be marked AA/1 Any other bundles, packages, papers or documents similarly packed up together might be sealed or marked AA/2, AA/3, etc., etc. All these packages may be packed for easy carriage in a large receptacle which should, in this case, be marked A and should contain all the AA bundles or packages. Subsequently these bulky boxes or packages should be very formally opened by the search witnesses who sealed or marked and signed them during the search, and their contents should be gone over piece by piece, examined, kept or rejected, but in every instance initialled and dated by the search witnesses and the police officer in question. Each of these pieces must bear the initial letters and the serial of its original bundle plus its own serial number in that bundle. Should any difficulty be experienced in getting a search witness to examine the documents at the police station, it will be open to any police officer to call in the assistance of the Court to compel the attendance of such search witnesses at the Court to open the bundles, boxes, etc. Should he refuse to sign the contents of the bundle, the police officer should, if possible, invoke the help of an Honorary Magistrate or such other officers as may be available.
9. Medical examination of a wounded person: 312 PRB.
10. Dying declaration: 266 PRB.
11. Sketch Map and Plan: 273 PRB.
273. Map or plan to accompany Chargesheet in certain cases. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – (a) A map or plan shall always accompany the chargesheet in cases of murder, dacoity, serious riot, mail robbery, highway robbery, extensive burglary or theft where Rs. 600/- or more are stolen. Ordinarily, maps will not be required in cases other than those mentioned above; but the investigating officer may, at his discretion, prepare and send up a map in any other case. The map shall be prepared at as early a stage of the investigation as possible.
(b) The map shall, if possible, be drawn to scale, but this is not essential. If not drawn to scale, the fact shall be noted clearly on the map.
(c) The draughtsman or investigating officer who prepares the map shall bear in mind that it is essential for a correct appreciation of the situation by the Court and jury that a clear distinction should be made between (i) facts actually seen by the draughtsman himself, and (ii) facts deposed to only by witnesses. Statements made by the draughtsman as to the first group are always relevant, his statements as to the second are prima facie inadmissible and cannot be used as primary evidence to go to the jury.
It is necessary to maintain a suitable distinction in the map between these two sets of facts. This distinction shall be effected as follows:-
(i) The objects actually seen by the person preparing the map including such permanent features as buildings, trees, roads, paths and tangible points connected with the case, such as blood-stains, footprints, cloth and corpse, etc., actually seen by him shall be indicated by letters of the alphabet, A, B, C, D etc., explanations of these letters being given preferably in the margin of the map, but if this cannot be conveniently done, the explanations shall be furnished on a separate sheet of paper attached to the map.
(ii) Particulars derived from witnesses, e.g., the place where witness X is said to have stood, where the accused is said to have been standing when seen by X, where the blow was struck, etc., shall be indicated on the map by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. The explanations of these numbers, however, shall on no account be given on the face of the map or on the separate sheet of paper referred to above, but on another sheet of paper distinct-from either the map or the list of explanations of the actual facts indicated by letters.
(d) The number of the case and the name of the accused shall be given at the top of the map, and the signature of the person who prepared it at the foot. Use should always be made of cadastral and other maps, where they are available and are of sufficiently large scale.
(e) The draughtsman or the investigating officer who prepared the map shall be produced as a witness at the trial.
12. Post mortem examination and report: 305, 306PRB.
13. Presence of police officer at the P.M. Examination: 307 PRB.
14. Photographing of unidentified dead body: 314 PRB.
15. Fingerprint of unidentified dead body: 313 PRB.
16. Arrest without warrant: 316 PRB.
316. Arrest without warrant. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – (a) The powers of arrest without warrant possessed by police officers are laid down in sections 54, 55, 57(2), 128, 151 and 401(3), Code of Criminal Procedure. A telegram may be considered to furnish credible information of a person having been concerned in a cognizable offence. “Cognizable offence” is defined in section 4(f), Code of Criminal Procedure.
(b) An officer-in-charge of a police-station has no legal power to summon before him any person accused of an offence. The only manner in which he can enforce the attendance of such person before him is by arrest, and without an arrest the attendance or detention of an accused person cannot, under any circumstances, be compelled. It is, therefore, to be understood that, whenever an accused person is sent for and made to attend before an investigating officer, he is to be considered as having been arrested, and to be entered in the return accordingly. The manner in which arrest is to be made is described in sections 46 to 48 and section 53, Code of Criminal Procedure. No person who has been arrested may be discharged except on bail, or on his own recognizance, of under the special orders of a Magistrate. (See section 63 of the Code.
(c) “Police custody” includes custody on the authority of the police; every person who is kept in attendance to answer a charge in such a way that he is practically deprived of his freedom shall be considered as in custody. A police officer who, without himself arresting a person, directs some of the neighbours to take charge of him, shall be responsible in the same way as if he had made the arrest himself. Requiring a person’s attendance by letter and deputing a constable to accompany him with orders to prevent him from speaking to anyone amounts to an arrest.
(d) The attention of all officers is drawn to section 25 of the Criminal Tribes Act, 1924 (VI of 1924), which provides for the arrest without warrant of a registered member of a criminal tribe, whose movements have been restricted or who has escaped from a Settlement or School, if found in a place beyond the area prescribed for his residence, and for the removal of such member for his prosecution under section 22(11) of the said Act, to the district in which he should reside or to the Settlement or School from which he escaped.
17. Unnecessary arrest to be avoided and bail to be allowed: 317 PRB.
18. Register of person arrested: 323 A.
19. Medical examination of the arrested person: 328 PRB.
20. Illness of the person arrested: 321 PRB.
21. Accommodation and segregation of male, female and juvenile prisoners: 327 PRB.
22. Guards for lock-up: 329 PRB.
23. Use of handcuff: Prisoners shall not be subjected to more restraint than necessary to prevent their escape, in bailable offence prisoners should not be handcuff unless reason to believe that he can be violent: 330 PRB.
24. Guarding and escorting prisoner arrested: 331, 332 PRB.
25. Death of prisoner in Police custody: 302 (b) PRB.
26. Accused to be forwarded to Magistrate and application for detention in Police custody: 324 PRB.
324. Accused to be forwarded to Magistrate and application for detention in police custody. – (a) Section 61 read with section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, requires that an accused shall be sent forthwith to the nearest Magistrate, together with a copy of the entries, in the case diary, if the enquiry be not completed within 24 hours of his arrest: but in no case shall the accused remain in police custody longer than under all the circumstances of the case is reasonable.
(b) The High Court has issued the following orders regarding remands:-
“The attention of all Magistrates is invited to the provisions of section 167 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and to the importance of exercising a sound judicial discretion in the matter of granting or refusing remands thereunder. Orders under this section, it is to be observed, should be made in the presence of the prisoner and after hearing any objection he may have to make to the proposed order. When further detention is considered necessary the remand should be for the shortest possible period. Application for remands to police custody should be carefully scrutinized and in general should be granted only when it is shown that the presence of the accused with the police is necessary for the identification of persons, the discovery or identification of property, or the like special reason. In particular, the Court is of opinion that applications, if ever made, for the remand to police custody of a prisoner who has failed to make an expected confession or statement should not be granted.”
(c) When the conditions justifying a remand to police custody exist the station officer shall forward the accused to the nearest Magistrate (whether or not he has jurisdiction to try the case), together with a copy of his case diary and report the matter to the Superintendent.
(d) The grounds upon which the remand is needed shall be distinctly stated in the application to the Magistrate.
(e) An application for a remand to police custody shall not be treated as a matter of routine and of little importance. It shall be made to the Sub-divisional Magistrate through the chief police officer present at the district or Sub-divisional headquarters.
(f) No order remanding an accused person to police custody shall be passed by an officer of lower status than a Magistrate of the 2nd class and applications for remands shall be made to Magistrates of the required status only.
(g) The exercise of the power to remand a prisoner to police custody shall be restricted to stipendiary Magistrate of the required status, and in their absence, to Honorary Magistrates of the 1st class with single sitting powers.
(h) When the object of the remand is the verification of the prisoner’s statement he should be remanded to the charge of a Magistrate.
(i) The period of remand shall be as short as possible.
(j) Whenever an application for the remand of an accused person to police custody is made, he should invariably be produced before the Magistrate. Such an application should be made at the earliest possible moment and subsequent applications for further remands to police custody, where necessary, should be made in continuation of the former. An under-trial prisoner cannot remain in police custody after 15 days have elapsed from the date of his first production before the Magistrate.
27. Memorandum of evidence: 274 PRB.
274. Memo of evidence. [§12, Act V of 1861]. – Simultaneously with the submission of the Chargesheet and its annexures, the investigating officers shall submit to the Court officer a memorandum of evidence in B.P. Form No. 41A to be attached to the final case diary. A copy of the memorandum should also be sent to the Superintendent of Police.The memorandum of evidence shall be kept apart and shall not form part of the case diary during the pendency of the case.
28. Charge sheet: 272 PRB.
272. Chargesheets. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – (a) When an officer-in-charge of a police-station on completion of an investigation under Chapter XIV, Code of Criminal Procedure, finds the charge proved and proposes to proceed against any person, he shall, notwithstanding that he has failed to arrest all or any of the persons against whom the charge is proved, at once submit a charge-sheet in B.P. Form No. 39, which is the report prescribed under section 173, Code of Criminal Procedure. Thus a chargesheet shall be submitted when the accused is absconding or is sent up for trial in custody or on bond (section 170, Code of Criminal Procedure). In cases where an accused is absconding, the investigating officer shall submit with the chargesheet a list of the absconder’s property so that the Court may issue attachment orders.
(b) The following instructions shall be observed :-
(i) The charge-sheet shall be sent by the quickest means to the Court officer for submission to the Magistrate. When a prima facie case is made out in a case in which articles have, been sent for chemical analysis, the charge-sheet shall not be delayed till receipt of the Chemical Examiner’s report. If a case in the first instance is reported in final report form, but subsequently by the Magistrate’s order or otherwise, the accused person is placed on his trial, the final report form shall be cancelled and a charge-sheet submitted. If, on transit from a police-station to the Court, an accused person absconds, the charge-sheet form shall stand. The case shall be kept pending till the absconder is arrested, or till his arrest is considered hopeless.
(ii) When submitting a charge-sheet, the officer-in-charge of a police-station shall communicate in B. P. Form No. 40 or 40A, the action taken by him to the person, if any, by whom information relating to the commission of the offence was first given.
(iii) Lists of property stolen, lists of property found on parties arrested, reports on previous convictions, the bail and recognisance bonds executed under section 170, Code of Criminal Procedure (Forms XXV and XXVI of Schedule V, of the Code), and a map in cases in which the rules require a map, shall be attached to the chargesheet form. Only the precise particulars as required by the column headings shall be noted in the chargesheet. The chargesheet shall be given an annual serial number and counterfoil shall be kept at the police station. Superior officers of police may not return or detain a chargesheet once submitted by the investigating officer. They may, however, direct a further enquiry pending the instructions of the District Magistrate. If the correct name or address of the accused has not been ascertained the investigating officer shall ask that a remand be applied for.
(iv) A police officer sending up an accused person for trial shall certify on the back of the chargesheet that he has carefully examined the register of persons convicted (Village Crime Note-Book, Part II), and that he has in all other respects made full enquiry whether such accused person has been previously convicted. A similar certificate shall be given regarding absconders against whom a charge is proved. Should previous convictions be ascertained, a short report of all particulars concerning them, including the names of any person who can prove each previous conviction, will be sent with the chargesheet to enable the Court officer to prove them under section 511, Code of Criminal Procedure. In addition to the certificate referred to, the investigating officer, when the accused is charged with an offence for which enhanced punishment can be given on re-conviction, shall note on the back of the chargesheet as to whether the accused has resided in his jurisdiction for a period of more or less than 10 years.
(v) When the entry regarding the previous conviction of the person sent for trial would, under existing rules, be in the register of another station, the investigating officer will note this fact on the chargesheet and inform the officer-in-charge of that station that such a person is being sent for trial, in order that the latter may search his station register and supply direct to the Court officer the required particulars about his previous conviction. On receipt of this report, the Court officer shall attach it to the chargesheet. The receipt, however, of such information in no way relieves a sadar Court officer from the performance of the duty of searching the index to the register of convictions and ascertaining whether any conviction other than those noted by the station-police are entered therein against an accused person. Enquiries should not be made in Nepal as the antecedents of person professing to reside-in that State.
(vi) On the duplicate of the chargesheet shall be entered in red ink the number of the volume and page of the conviction (Village Crime Note-Book, Part II) and surveillance registers in which the convict’s name has been registered, and in all cases declared true, whether convicted or not, the number of the entry in the property register, if any, shall also he noted.
(vii) The antecedents of each accused person shall be noted on the back of the chargesheet under one or other of the following heads :-
(1) Known thief, dacoit, robber.
(2) Vagrant with no fixed residence.
(3) Suspicious character.
(4) Habitual drunkard.
(5) Prostitute.
(6) Good character.
(7) Antecedents unknown.
273. Map or plan to accompany chargesheet in certain cases. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – (a) A map or plan shall always accompany the chargesheet in cases of murder, dacoity, serious riot, mail robbery, highway robbery, extensive burglary or theft where Rs. 600/- or more are stolen. Ordinarily, maps will not be required in cases other than those mentioned above; but the investigating officer may, at his discretion, prepare and send up a map in any other case. The map shall be prepared at as early a stage of the investigation as possible.
(b) The map shall, if possible, be drawn to scale, but this is not essential. If not drawn to scale, the fact shall be noted clearly on the map.
(c) The draughtsman or investigating officer who prepares the map shall bear in mind that it is essential for a correct appreciation of the situation by the Court and jury that a clear distinction should be made between (i) facts actually seen by the draughtsman himself, and (ii) facts deposed to only by witnesses. Statements made by the draughtsman as to the first group are always relevant, his statements as to the second are prima facie inadmissible and cannot be used as primary evidence to go to the jury.
It is necessary to maintain a suitable distinction in the map between these two sets of facts. This distinction shall be effected as follows :-
(i) The objects actually seen by the person preparing the map including such permanent features as buildings, trees, roads, paths and tangible points connected with the case, such as blood-stains, footprints, cloth and corpse, etc., actually seen by him shall be indicated by letters of the alphabet, A, B, C, D etc., explanations of these letters being given preferably in the margin of the map, but if this cannot be conveniently done, the explanations shall be furnished on a separate sheet of paper attached to the map.
(ii) Particulars derived from witnesses, e.g., the place where witness X is said to have stood, where the accused is said to have been standing when seen by X, where the blow was struck, etc., shall be indicated on the map by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. The explanations of these numbers, however, shall on no account be given on the face of the map or on the separate sheet of paper referred to above, but on another sheet of paper distinct-from either the map or the list of explanations of the actual facts indicated by letters.
(d) The number of the case and the name of the accused shall be given at the top of the map, and the signature of the person who prepared it at the foot. Use should always be made of cadastral and other maps, where they are available and are of sufficiently large scale.
(e) The draughtsman or the investigating officer who prepared the map shall be produced as a witness at the trial.
29. Final report and discharge of accused person from the case: 275 PRB.
275. Final report forms. [§ 12, Act V, 1861]. – (a) A final report in B.P. Form No. 42 shall be drawn up by the investigating officer in every investigated case which does not result in chargesheet. In column 9 a clear statement of the case and of the evidence shall be given together with the reasons for not sending up any person for trial. The investigating officer shall also suggest in the same column with reasons how the case may be entered by the Magistrate in the General register for statistical purposes whether as “true”, “intentionally false”, “mistake of fact”, “mistake of law”, or “non-cognizable”.
(b) The form shall be written in triplicate every final report being given an annual serial number. One copy will be kept at the police-station and filed with the case diaries on receipt of the final memorandum and the other two copies will be sent to the Circle Inspector, the actual date and hour of despatch being entered on all the three copies. The Circle Inspector will attach one copy to his copy of the case diaries and forward the other to the Magistrate with his remarks and recommendations. [See regulation 196],
(c) The final report shall contain a specific application for the release of an arrested person from custody or his discharge from bond. Bail and recognisance bonds shall be attached to the final report.
PRB: Bengal Police Regulation 1943