Maharashtra’s director general of police, Praveen Dixit, has passed a circular on January 25 asking all police branches across the state to inform the complainant about the final report filed by the police department on his/her complaint. Mr Dixit has also said that the police department may use e-mails and SMS as a mode of communication to inform the complainant about the filing of the chargesheet.
The circular, which has been sent to all police stations, crime branch and other police branches, states that the investigating officer must inform the complainant about the sections, chargesheet number, the day when the chargesheet was accepted by the court and the name of the court and court room number in which it was filed.
Senior lawyer Abha Singh said, “As per the Supreme Court ruling, the informant has to be informed before the court accepts the summary report (final report) submitted by the police to the court.”
Mr Dixit had become popular as DG ACB for making the secretive Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) transparent.
The police department files a final report in the respective court after completing their investigations. This final report is commonly known as a chargesheet. Instead of a final report or a chargesheet, the police may also file either an A summary, B summary or a C summary report.
An A-summary report means the complaint is true but case could not be detected. The case is temporarily shut as far as investigations are concerned but can be opened at any time in future depending on leads or clues.
A B-summary report means the case is false and registered with a malicious intent by the complainant. In this case an FIR can be registered on the complainant as well. A C-summary report means a case is not made out. It is not clear whether the department has to inform the complainant if a summary is filed.
