(Guest)

Foreign national: in need of advice.

Hello. I'm a U.S. citizen of indian ancestry. I've been in india for an extended time, living with some

distant relatives, and doing a bit of work with some ngo's related to animal welfare.

On june 22, 2011, i was the victim of a serious physical assault, perpetrated by 5 people. The police stated that an FIR will be filed once medical records are received. The locals i asked stated this is normal ( at the time i didn't realize that most people here have no idea how their own legal system is supposed to work ).

Around July 15th i was called to the station to file an FIR, one injury was listed as grievious, and the officers who called me in, spent 1 hour insisting that i not file an FIR, then told me to return the next day, the next 3 days i returned and the officers were not available.

A week later they went to my flat, insisted no fir, but still took a complete statement, and said this is the FIR, the sho will stamp it etc in a few days. nothing still.

I called the us embassy around august 3rd, they contacted the officers, who claimed i never submitted a statement etc., they returned 4 days later, took yet another statement, and nothing.

The embassy called again, and was unable to contact the sho. embassy says they will contact a deputy commissioner on wednesday.

I have repeatedly been to the station, and can not get hold of the sho. i called a deputy comm. yesterday who told me to stop into the deputy commi's office on tuesday, though he did not specify if he would lodge the FIR for me.

I have also read a magistrate can order an FIR.
I have talked to a couple advocate in the last 2 weeks, unfortunately they were quite unhelpful and some of the things they stated were incorrect.

Now luckily i have stumbled upon this website and a few others, i've been able to read up on the correct order for a criminal proceeding, and clearly everything on my case has been incorrectly handled by the police.

I have seen now that, most police refuse to file firs, they make it very difficult, and most ppl give up, and most criminals win.

Anyhow, any advice would be much appreciated, a lot of time has already been wasted. I would like to get an FIR lodged right away, not to mention the medical reports and a charge sheet.

Do i at this point need to see a magistrate to order an FIR? And how on earth do i find an advocate that has proper information and can help me out, as opposed to giving me bad information and ripping me off. Additionally i only speak english.

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3 Replies

Rajender Dahiya (Partner/Advocate) 21 August 2011

This is Rajender Dahiya, 9560900283 based out of Delhi. Please clarify have you given any written complaint to police official? If yes they might have given you diary number with seal of police station endorsed on it. Take that copy and write your grievance to Deputy Commissioner of Police with Copy marking to commissioner of Police Delhi. If still they are failed to lodge an FIR the we have one remedy i.e we have to file a private complaint before concerned magistrate U/s 200 of Criminal Procedure Code read with an application U/s 156(3) of Cr.P.C. Then upon such application if a magistrate gets satisfied then he can direct police officials to lodge the FIR and invetigate the matter or first invetigate the matter then lodge the FIR, he can order either ways.... But he doesn't get satisfied then he ask us to go for complainnant's evidence, which is a longer procedure...

I advise you to write your grievance to higher officials first. i think once you write to them surely it will be done. Take help of some expert while you write to higher authorities.

1 Like

(Guest)

Mr Dahiya, thank you for your prompt reply. I do appreciate it, especially after the endless run
around i've experienced from the police.

Please clarify have you given any written.... :

I should have stated, that after the attack, at the hospital, the police wrote down my statement.
Someone who witnessed the attack wrote down the attackers car license plate number, which i
gave to the police. The police have already completed their investigation within the first 2 days
after the attack. They found the owner of the car and all of his friends. The five are 19 to 23 years
of age. The police say they talked to all five in their flats with their parents present, all 5 say they
were involved in the attack, and gave numerous conflicting reasons (police claim: one said they
were intoxicated and attacked for no reason, another said that i attacked the five of them, etc.).

Anyhow, so at this point in time - since the last 6 weeks, the police have all the suspects and my
medical reports (which i assume is sufficient for a charge sheet and prosecution to commence).
The initial statement at the hospital, and the two subsequent statements taken in my flat: there
were no seals placed on them, no numbers, no receipt. I had in fact specifically asked for the
seal, they said it was unavailable, they left it at the station, (keep in mind, the embassy explicitly
requested that the police bring the seal etc.).

When i had gone to the station, i brought my own two identical statements, one to file, and the
other to have stamped and taken with me as proof - the 3 times no officers would accept the
statement, they referred me back to the subinspectors on the case, and each 3 times they said
the SHO was unavailable.

Hopefully that clarifies the situation a bit.

SACHIN AGARWAL (ADVOCATE) 30 August 2011

Dear Ratan Tikku,

If you lodge any written complaint with the Police and the POlice do not register the same, you have an option to send an application to Police Commissioner / S.S.P. and in case it is not lodged eventhereafter, you can move an application for lodging the F.I.R. before the Court Concerned under the provisions of Section 156(3) Cr.P.C.