Kochi, July 1 : The Kerala High Court has held that the police cannot refuse to register a first information report (FIR) merely because a complaint was sent via email from abroad without a signature.

The high court said that the introduction of Section 173 of the BNSS 2023 has given statutory recognition to the concept of Zero FIR and therefore, the police are duty-bound to register an FIR if a complaint discloses a cognisable offence, even if the complaint is received from outside their jurisdiction or through electronic means.

"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 cognisable 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," it pointed out.

The high court's ruling came on a plea by the petitioner, presently residing in Australia, who had sent a complaint via email in 2020 against her husband to the state police chief.

The SPC then forwarded it to the police station concerned, but the police officials there refused to register a case, citing a lack of a signature in the complaint sent through email and the petitioner's unavailability in person.

This action of the local police station forced the petitioner to approach the high court for relief.

The high court also made it clear that if a complaint disclosed a cognisable offence, then the police are duty-bound to register the FIR, even if the complainant is residing abroad or if the complaint is unsigned.

Any refusal to register the FIR solely on the basis of formal defects undermines the statutory mandate under the new BNSS, it maintained.

Since the original complaint was filed in 2020 and the petitioner expressed her willingness to file a fresh one, the court disposed of the plea with a direction to the Station House Officer of Muttom Police Station to act on the fresh complaint filed by the petitioner in accordance with Section 173 of the BNSS.

/IANS