FIRs filed for Women Related Offences

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If you want to give information about any of the following offences, then such information has to be registered by a woman police officer or any other woman officer:

Grievous hurt by use of acid
Voluntarily throwing or attempting to throw acid
Assault or criminal force on a woman with the intent to outrage her modesty
Sexual harassment
Disrobing
Voyeurism
Stalking
Rape
Rape causing death or persistent vegetative state
Rape by husband when spouses were separated
Gang Rape
Outraging the modesty of a woman by words, gestures or actions

For offences committed from C to L mentioned above, if the same was committed or alleged to have been committed on someone who is suffering from some mental or physical disability (both temporary or permanent), then such information will be recorded by a police officer at their residence or any place that is convenient to the person reporting. Depending on the circumstances, they can even request an interpreter or a special educator.

Comments

Laxmi

October 18, 2022

How to start an investigation on a person without knowing him on sexual harassment case.

Nyaaya

October 25, 2022

The Prevention of Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 acknowledges that instances of sexual harassment often occur in isolation or in circumstances where evidence is difficult to come by.

In many of these instances, summoning witnesses, securing recordings or video footage, reviewing screenshots become a challenge. This leaves the committee with the word of the victim against the word of the perpetrator.

It is important to note that the Evidence Act is not applicable to the enquiry proceedings under PoSH. The Evidence Act of 1872 codifies the importance of proof in order to establish the existence of a crime. However under the prevention of sexual harassment act, 2013 this criterion isn’t required. Thus a complaint can be registered without any evidence and often a case/complaint is registered on the testimony of the victim.

The criteria to accept a complaint is not proof of the sexual harassment but the prima facia existence of sexual harassment. The law works on the principle of not proving harassment beyond reasonable doubt but the balance of probability.

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Related Resources

How to file an FIR

If a crime has taken place you can go to the nearest police station which does not necessarily have to be in the area where the crime has been committed.

Reporting Rape

If you want to report a rape case, under the Indian law, you can follow the procedure which has been mentioned herein.

Custodial Harassment of LGBTQ+ Persons by Police

If you are arrested, you will be in the custody of the police at the police station for 24 hours, till they take you to the nearest Magistrate (Court). They can keep you for 15 more days only if they get the permission of the Magistrate.

Where can an FIR be filed

An FIR can be filed at any police station. The fact that the crime may not have been committed in that police stations jurisdiction has no consequence to the filing of the complaint.

Chargesheet

Once you have reported the crime by filing an FIR, the officer in charge must send the report to a Magistrate, who will take note of the case without any unnecessary delay, and proceed with the investigation. This is a mandatory step that the police have to follow, as it allows the Magistrate to take control of the investigation, and if necessary give appropriate directions to the police.

Who can file an FIR

You can file an FIR if you are a victim of a crime, a relative or friend or acquaintance of the victim or you have knowledge about a crime that has taken place or is about to take place.