Kerala High Court ruled that police can’t reject FIRs just because complaints come via email from overseas without a signature. The Court upheld the right to file Zero FIR under BNSS 2023.
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ERNAKULAM: The Kerala High Court said that police cannot reject a complaint for not having a signature if it talks about a serious crime. The Court also said that it doesn’t matter if the complaint came from another country or through email.
Justice Kauser Edappagath gave this important decision while explaining a new law under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS). This law now legally supports the idea of Zero FIR.
According to the Court, if the complaint is about a serious (cognizable) offence, then the police must register an FIR, even if it is received from another place or country, or even through email.
The Court clearly stated:
“Zero FIR has been introduced with the primary purpose of ensuring that victims can file complaints regardless of jurisdiction. Therefore, the police cannot refuse to register an FIR if a cognizable offence is made out in the complaint, even if the complaint is forwarded from a foreign country. In these circumstances, the rejection of Annexure A7 complaint made by the petitioner on the ground that it was unsigned and sent through e-mail from Australia cannot be justified.”
This case started when a woman who is currently living in Australia sent a complaint in 2020 by email to the Director General of Police (DGP), Kerala. She had made serious allegations against her husband.
After receiving the email, the DGP forwarded the complaint to Muttom Police Station. But the police there refused to file an FIR. They said the email did not have a signature and the woman was not physically present.
Because of this, the woman approached the Kerala High Court. She asked the Court to order the police to take action on her complaint.
The Court replied that if the complaint talks about a serious offence (called cognizable offence), the police must register an FIR. It doesn’t matter whether the complaint has a signature or whether the person who complained is living outside India.
The Court added that such rejections by police only due to small formal mistakes are not acceptable under the BNSS law.
So, since the original complaint was made in 2020 and the woman was ready to file a fresh complaint again, the Court gave the following order:
“The Station House Officer of Muttom Police Station must take action on the new complaint from the woman according to Section 173 of the BNSS.”
The woman was represented by Advocates TB Shajimon, Govindu P Renukadevi, and Sajeev TP.
Senior Public Prosecutor EC Bineesh appeared on behalf of the State.
CASE TITLE:
YYYY v State of Kerala & ors.
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