Legal Procedure for Filing an Official Police Complaint in India

Most of the tourists visiting India are not aware of the basic procedure for filing an official police complaint in India if anything adverse happens to them. As there are lots of misconceptions amongst the people of India about the police department, I have decided to write some tips that will be very useful to all the tourists, mainly the tourists from abroad. I myself have also faced some problems while registering a complaint to the police about the robbery of my luggage during my last visit to India in spite of my stay in India for 40 years.

The entire country of India is divided in to thousands of police stations with the limits of each, clearly specified. If it is a small village, there will be only one police station. Even, there may be a case when multiple villages are covered under the jurisdiction of one police station. The small towns, which are known as taluka head quarters have two police stations. The district head quarter can have around 12 to 15 police stations based on the population of each area. The Police Inspector is the head of every police station. There are various Sub Inspectors/officers/police constables under him. There are three to four writers also attached with each police station. The district head of the police is called Deputy Superintendent of Police, shortly known as D.S.P. The head of the entire State is called Inspector General of Police. The State government controls the administration of police department. Though, there can be some guidelines issued by the Central Government from time to time. If you experience anything like robbery, pick pocket, house robbery, rape, physical abuse or attack, kidnap, harassment by people, missing person, or any type of mishap caused by the persons, you are allowed to register its official complaint. However, if you have to register the complaint about a missing person, you need to wait for at least 24 hours of the person's disappearance. This registration of complaint is called filing of First Information Report, shortly known as FIR.

The first and foremost aspect is that one can register the complaint in the police station of the particular area only, where the complaint incident has occurred. No other police station would accept your formal complaint. If you are traveling by train and some mishap happens, you have to register your complaint with the Railways Police Force, shortly known as RPF. You can register the police complaint all though out the day as there are shifts coverage of 24 hours at each and every police station of the country. You will need to describe the exact incident with all the details and the estimated value of each stolen goods and the approximate time at which it has happened. The on duty police officer cannot refuse to register complaint, even if you are not an Indian citizen. You are also allowed to name suspects in case you think of any. Once the complaint is registered, you will need to sign that complaint after the signature of the police officer taking the complaint. One copy of the complaint is also handed over to you as a proof of your complaint registration. The police relive you after the complaint registration procedure is completed.

The police action begins immediately after the complaint is registered and the police will intimate you from time to time on the progress of the case. If you are at some other location, try to be in touch with the concerned police station. Once the stolen good is traced, police will call you to identify those items. In spite of many adverse talks about Indian Police department, my experience with them was really very nice except few initial problems while lodging the complaint. The Railway police traced my bag, stolen during the train journey within 24 hours with all its contents untouched. Even, their behavior was also very decent. One point of caution I would like to stress upon is that one must be able to specify the exact source of his stolen goods as otherwise there can be problems. For example, your money amounting to say Rs.500000 is stolen, you must be able to state from where the money had come. One cannot register the police complaint of the unauthorized possessions he may be having.

I suggest all my AC readers not to worry at all in case any mishap occurs to them and proceed with the registration of police complaint without any fear. I would also suggest to all my AC readers to read this article thoroughly before they start their journey to India. It will certainly help them all in case of any mishap during their visit to India.