{"id":42265,"date":"2025-10-27T03:12:33","date_gmt":"2025-10-26T21:42:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=42265"},"modified":"2025-10-30T16:16:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-30T10:46:04","slug":"mha-directive-ensuring-translations-for-zero-firs-across-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/mha-directive-ensuring-translations-for-zero-firs-across-states\/","title":{"rendered":"MHA Directive: Ensuring Translations for Zero FIRs Across States"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>Zero FIRs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed Union Territories (UTs) to ensure that &#8216;zero FIRs&#8217; recorded in local languages are accompanied by a translated copy of the same when forwarded to states with different languages.<\/p>\n<p>This directive aims to preserve the legal value of FIRs. Complying, the UTs have started sending out the original zero FIRs along with their English translation.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Zero FIRs<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About FIRs<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The term first information report (FIR) is<strong> not defined<\/strong> in the Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) 1973 or in any other law.<\/li>\n<li>In police regulations or rules, <strong>information recorded under Section 154 of CrPC is known as FIR.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Section 154<\/strong> states that every information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer in charge of a police station, shall be reduced to writing.<\/li>\n<li><strong>A copy of the information<\/strong> (as recorded) shall be given (free of cost) to the informant.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>In essence, 3 important elements of an FIR:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>the information must relate to the commission of a cognizable offence,<\/li>\n<li>it should be given in writing or orally to the head of the police station and<\/li>\n<li><strong>it must be written down and signed by the informant, and its key points should be recorded in a daily diary.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Zero FIRs<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>A <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/zero-firs-a-fresh-challenge-for-police-in-manipur\/\" target=\"_blank\">zero FIR<\/a> <strong>can be filed in any Police Station by the victim<\/strong>, irrespective of their residence or the place of occurrence of crime.<\/li>\n<li>A police station that receives a complaint regarding an alleged offence committed in the jurisdiction of another police station,<strong> registers an FIR and then transfers it to the relevant police station for further investigation.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>No regular FIR number is given<\/strong> and after receiving the Zero FIR, the revenant police station <strong>registers a fresh FIR <\/strong>and starts the investigation.\n<ul>\n<li>It came up after the recommendation in the report of the <strong>Justice Verma Committee <\/strong>set up after the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape case to suggest amendments to the Criminal Law.<\/li>\n<li><strong>The objective of a Zero FIR<\/strong> is to ensure the victim doesn\u2019t have to run from pillar to post to get a police complaint registered.<\/li>\n<li>The provision is meant to provide <strong>speedy redressal to the victim so that timely action can be taken after the filing of the FIR.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>FIR under new criminal laws<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The three new criminal laws came into effect from July 1, 2024.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023, replaced the British-era Indian Penal Code, Code of Criminal Procedure and the Indian Evidence Act, respectively.\n<ul>\n<li>Under the new laws, a person can now report incidents by electronic communication, without the need to physically visit a police station.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>This allows for easier and quicker reporting, facilitating prompt action by the police.\n<ul>\n<li>Under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) police are now bound to register a \u2018zero FIR\u2019.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Under Section 176 (3) of BNSS, collection of forensic evidence and video-recording of the crime scene in case of offences punishable with seven years or more is mandatory.<\/li>\n<li>If the forensic facility is not available in a state, it can notify the utilisation of such facility of any other state.\n<ul>\n<li>Victims will receive a free copy of the FIR, ensuring their participation in the legal process.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. What is a Zero FIR?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>A Zero FIR is an FIR that can be filed at any police station, regardless of jurisdiction. It ensures the victim can register a complaint without delays, and the FIR is later transferred to the appropriate police station for investigation.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Q.2. Why must Zero FIRs be translated?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The MHA has mandated translations of Zero FIRs when forwarded to states with different languages to preserve their legal accuracy and value, ensuring clear communication during cross-state investigations under the new criminal laws.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/india\/zero-firs-filed-in-local-languages-must-have-translated-copy-mha-to-uts-9548958\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Zero FIRs filed in local languages must have translated copy: MHA to UTs<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/what-is-zero-fir-why-it-is-registered-8854310\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Indian Express<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hindustantimes.com\/india-news\/new-criminal-laws-take-effect-how-to-file-fir-videography-of-crime-scenes-now-mandatory-explained-101719807677420.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Hindustan Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The MHA directs Union Territories to provide translated copies of zero FIRs when sent to states with different languages, preserving their legal value.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":42266,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42265","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42265"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42265\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42266"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}