The Karnataka High Court bench of Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar, emphasised that, to register an FIR it is only required to report the crime to the police.
The bench while rejecting the bail application of the petitioner stated that, “First information need not be a encyclopedia”.
“First information need not be a encyclopedia. It need not contain every detail. What is required is reporting of the crime to the police.”
In the case, the sister of the deceased reported the crime of her brother to the police after being informed by her brother-in-law in November, 2018.
The learned counsel for the petitioner argued that the name of the assailants was not disclosed in the first information. Further showing disbelief on the witnesses argued that, the eye witnesses has not reported the incident.
“If really they were the eye witnesses, nothing prevented them from reporting the incident to the police. For this reason they cannot be believed to be eye witnesses. Therefore there does not exist prima-facie case and the petitioner becomes entitled to be released on bail.”
The learned Government Pleader subjected that, this cannot a the ground that the eye witness did not reported the incident to the police.
“that merely for the reason that the eye witnesses did not inform to the police, it cannot be a ground for holding that prima-facie materials are not forthcoming.”
The bench stated that, this cannot be a ground for disbelieving the FIR, if the complainant informed the police without mentioning the name of her brother’s assailants.
“If the sister of the deceased gave information about the killing of her brother without mentioning the names of the assailants, it cannot be a ground for disbelieving the FIR.”
The bench added that, eye witnesses statements cannot be disbelieved at this stage, this may be subject to “cross examination”.
“eye witnesses did not inform the police about the incident, their statements cannot be disbelieved at this stage. They may be subjected to cross examination in the course of trial to test their demeanor.”
The bench denied bail to the petitioner finding ample material at the stage.
“The petitioner has produced before the police a knife said to have been used for assaulting the deceased. Therefore I find ample materials at this stage. Involvement of the petitioner is very much forthcoming. Hence bail is rejected.”