A Supreme Court's full bench observed on Tuesday that no separate First Information Report (FIR) is required for new version after registration of first criminal case in any incident.
The court directed its office to send copies of this order to the inspectors general of police of all the provinces and the Islamabad Capital Territory who are directed to apprise all the Station House Officers of the police stations in the country to follow the law declared by this court on issue of dual FIRs through the present judgment in its letter and spirit.
The court announced its judgment in a suo motu notice and held that the investigating officer may record any number of versions of the same incident brought to his notice or to be recorded by him under section 161 CrPC.
It is the duty of an investigating officer to find out the truth of the matter under investigation. His object shall be to discover the actual facts of the case and to arrest the real offenders. He shall not commit himself prematurely to any view of the facts for or against any person. The final report (challan) submitted under section 173 CrPC should be based upon the actual facts discovered during the investigation irrespective of the version of the incident advanced by the first informant or any other version brought to the notice of the investigating officer by any person.
The court while dismissing the petition of Mst Sughran Bibi of Shahdara, whose son Mohsin Ali was killed by police, observed that as an FIR had been registered in the present case regarding the same occurrence and the petitioner had instituted a private complaint depicting her version of the same incident, therefore, ordering registration of another FIR based upon the petitioner's version of the same incident is not legally warranted.
The court however directed the trial court to conclude the trial of the petitioner's case within the next four months without fail.
More than a decade ago, on March 21, 2008, one Mohsin Ali had lost his life at the hands of police and an FIR was lodged by a SI Zulfiqar, alleging that Mohsin Ali and others had launched a murderous assault on police and in exercise of its right to defence the police party had fired back resulting in death of Mohsin Ali. After completion of the investigation, a challan was submitted in the case before the Court of Session, Lahore.
On 12th of January, 2010, the petitioner Mst Sughran Bibi had instituted a private complaint in respect of the same incident alleging that Mohsin Ali had been murdered by the local police in a fake encounter. The petitioner had approached the Supreme Court to seek issuance of a direction to the local police to register a separate FIR containing her version in the same incident.
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