Myth Busters

Authored by Anmol Mathur, Astha Singh and Rajat Asolkar.

It is said that movies derive inspiration from real life. That is a tall claim considering the fact that if one tried half the things that are showed in Bollywood movies, he/she would probably have a hard time bailing out of the mayhem that will follow. Here are 7  things about criminal law that work fine on the silver screen but are a disaster if you try them in real life.​

Singham: In this movie, the police officer tears an FIR, however a police officer has no right to do so. According to Section 154 of the CrPC every complaint has to be registered. If an aggrieved wants to register a FIR, the  officer in charge of a police station is duty bound to record what the aggrieved has to say. In any circumstance, if he refuses to do so, or he tears off the FIR, as the police officer did in this movie, it does not mean that the FIR cannot be registered.

Rowdy Rathore: The Policeman barges into a house without any proper warrant and proceeds to severely injure the person living there. This is in conflict with Section 4 (1) (d) and (g) of the CrPC. A police officer cannot just barge into someone’s house without a valid search warrant. The police officer does not have the authority to carry out a search without a warrant, he must follow a proper procedure to arrest someone or carry out a search operation.

Garv, Pride and Honour: A policeman kills the person accused of raping his sister. However, as prescribed by Section 57 of the CrPC, he should have arrested him and taken him to a magistrate within 24 hours. The police officer does not have a license to kill a person unless empowered by law. The power of punishing the wrongdoer lies with the court and not the police officer. He must arrest the suspect and present before the magistrate within twenty-four hours of the arrest.

NH 10: The police officer did not register a case as it was a case of honour killing. He further proceeded to advise her not to do the same. This goes directly against Section 154  of the CrPC. The police office simply cannot refuse to record the FIR, and definitely should not discourage an individual from filing one. Any person aggrieved by a refusal on the part of an officer in charge of a police station to record the information, may appeal to the Superintendent of Police concerned who shall look into the case.

Well done Abba: The police men refused to register an FIR and only did so when the people were backed by the MLA. This is in direct conflict with Section 154 of the CrPC. This is not new to Indians, “Jab tak jach nahi, tab tak chalti nahi”. But let us get it clear, the police officer has no right to refuse to anybody to record a FIR, be it Muskan’s abba or an MLA.( Please refer to Myth Buster #1 for more details!)

Bunty aur Bubli: the policeman releases the criminal after arresting him due to emotional sentiments. As given under Section 56 he should have produced the said criminal in front of a magistrate within 24 hours. Sounds sweet, but a police officer is bound to take the arrested person to a magistrate, he cannot deliver justice, even though if he is shehenshah.

Agneepath: The police officer even after knowing that that a person was shot dead did not inform anyone. He should have informed the magistrate during the course of the investigation. Again, delivering justice is the court’s duty and not the police officer. The police officer will be at fault if he conceals a fact. (On a side note, click here for legal repercussions of Encounter Killings)