Step 1: Understanding the Concept:
The question asks about the nature of the information contained in a First Information Report (FIR). An FIR is the document prepared by the police when they receive information about the commission of a cognizable offence.
Step 2: Key Legal Provision:
Section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) deals with the information in cognizable cases, which is what is commonly known as an FIR.
Step 3: Detailed Explanation:
An FIR is the very first information that the police receive about a cognizable offence. A cognizable offence is one for which a police officer can arrest without a warrant. According to Section 154 CrPC, when information relating to the commission of a cognizable offence is given to an officer in charge of a police station, it must be reduced to writing. This written document is the FIR. Its purpose is to set the criminal law in motion.
- Option (A) is incorrect. A report to the Magistrate about an inquiry is a different procedural step.
- Option (B) describes a charge sheet or a final report, which is submitted under Section 173 CrPC after the investigation is complete. An FIR is what starts the investigation.
- Option (C) is correct. The FIR is fundamentally information about the commission of a cognizable crime.
Step 4: Final Answer:
The FIR gives information of the commission of a cognizable crime.
Having heard the learned Counsels for the parties, and on perusal of the ma terial on record, the primary issue which arises for consideration of this Court is ”whether a review or recall of an order passed in a criminal proceeding initiated under section 340 of CrPC is permissible or not?” [...] A careful consideration of the statutory provisions and the aforesaid decisions of this Court clarify the now-well settled position of jurisprudence of Section 362 of CrPC which when summarized would be that the criminal courts, as envisaged under the CrPC, are barred from altering or reviewing in their own judgments except for the exceptions which are explicitly provided by the statute, namely, correction of a clerical or an arithmetical error that might have been committed or the said power is provided under any other law for the time being in force. As the courts become functus officio the very moment a judgment or an order is signed, the bar of Section 362 CrPC becomes applicable. Despite the powers provided under Section 482 CrPC which, this veil cannot allow the courts to step beyond or circumvent an explicit bar. It also stands clarified that it is only in situations wherein an application for recall of an order or judgment seeking a procedural review that the bar would not apply and not a substantive review where the bar as contained in Section 362 CrPC is attracted. Numerous decisions of this Court have also elaborated that the bar under said provision is to be applied stricto sensu.
(Extracted with edits and revisions from Vikram Bakshi v. RP Khosla 2025 INSC 1020)