What The Law Commission on e-FIR
The Law Commission of India, in Report No. 282, recommended that “in cases where the accused is not known, registration of an e-FIR should be allowed for all cognisable offences”.
If the accused is known, as a preliminary step, registration of an e-FIR may be allowed for cognisable offences wherein the punishment provided under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other laws is up to three years.
The verification of the complainant, could be done by verifying the mobile number through an OTP and mandating the uploading of valid ID proof such as Aadhaar.
It also said that the name of the suspect on the centralised national portal is to be secured until the e-FIR is signed by the complainant.
e-FIR
The Commission has not demystified the concept of an ‘e-FIR’.
The procedure laid down in the Report says that the police station will check the contents of information received from the portal to verify whether a cognisable offence is made out as recommended.
Only then will the received information be entered in the prescribed format within three days.
In the next step, the police officer is required to get the signature of the complainant within three days to register an e-FIR.
Otherwise, the e-FIR shall not be registered, reasons shall be communicated, and the said information shall be automatically deleted after two weeks from the portal.
Though the Commission mentioned that eight States are lodging an e-FIR.
It is thus clear that the concept of ‘e-FIR’ is nothing but obtaining information/complaint through electronic means.
It is obvious that the ‘e-FIR’ is not an automatically registered FIR using electronic means.
Still, there are at least two benefits of obtaining complaints electronically.
First, the police will have to take cognisance of the complaint as the system will automatically generate receipt.
This will ensure almost free registration of crime.
Second, they will not be able to change the contents of the complaint.
E-authentication technique
The Commission has also not discussed using the ‘e-authentication technique or digital signature’ as defined in the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000, for signing complaints.
Under the Act, any information ‘rendered or made available in an electronic form; and accessible so as to be usable for a subsequent reference’ is legally acceptable.
In 2015, ‘e-authentication technique using Aadhaar e-KYC services’ was notified in the Second Schedule as a legally recognised technique.
This is widely used by the income tax department to facilitate filing of returns electronically.
The law also recognises ‘digital signature’ which uses an asymmetric cryptosystem and hash function..
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