Police Defies BNSS Provisions, Refuse to File Zero-FIRs

Hyderabad: The newly-enacted criminal code — the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) — allows police to register a zero-FIR for cognisable offences at any police station, regardless of where the crime was committed. However, the police stations in Hyderabad do not seem to be adhering to it.

A Deccan Chronicle correspondent reached out to the Narayanguda police station complaining about a chain-snatching incident at LB Nagar. The inspector, who was in charge of the police station, refused to register the crime and directed the correspondent to reach out to the LB Nagar police 13 km away, as the scene of offence did not fall under his jurisdiction.

The most common disdain of a police official is “the area where the offence took place was not in our police station limits, please go to the concerned PS.”

Vincent, a salesperson at a mall, was beaten up by the security guards on August 31 for not paying a Rs 10 parking fee. Later, when a group of Vincent’s well-wishers tried to settle the matter, the security guard summoned a group of 20 people, all dressed up in black, who beat others with rods and gas pipes. The incident occurred around 3 am in the night.

When Vincent tried to register a complaint against this attack on the website of the Telangana police, the server was down. When his well-wishers went to two nearby police stations, they directed them to the Gachibowli police, under whose jurisdiction the mall fell.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle, High Court advocate Yashasri Vasudeva Tadiboina said, “According to the new laws, once a victim reaches a police station, the police are supposed to register a zero-FIR and give it a crime number. Later, they can transfer the zero FIR to the police station concerned with the same crime number.”

The advocate said, “Most people find it difficult to even register their complaint. Even if your complaint does get registered, you cannot login again as it will show that you have made five attempts already.”

When Deccan Chronicle tried to create an account with the TS police website, the website showed an ‘Invalid URL’ page. Another correspondent, who already had a pre-existing account, tried to login to register a complaint, it showed that five attempts to login have been made.

Another victim, Rahul, a student, told Deccan Chronicle, “My friend was hit by a private travel bus in West Marredpally. The driver, conductor, and one other person beat him up on the road despite it being their fault. He managed to escape, but they followed him till Kukatpally. He finally stopped at a safe place where they could not spot him and called me up. Kukatpally was far away and it would have taken me around an hour to reach there. So I asked him to reach out to the Kukatpally police station. But they asked him to go to the West Marredpally police station (13 km away, again), because it was the scene of the offence.”