# FIR in Pakistan: Section 154 CrPC

What the Criminal Procedure Code actually says about registering a First Information Report
for a cognizable offence — quoted from the section, not paraphrased.

## The section, as retrieved

> 154. Information in cognizable cases: Every information relating to the commission of a
> cognizable offence, if given orally to an officer in charge of a police station, shall be
> reduced to writing by him or under his direction and then read over to the informant; and
> every such information, whether given in writing or reduced to writing as aforesaid, shall
> be signed by the person giving it, and the substance thereof shall be entered in a book to
> be kept by such officer in such form as the Provincial Government may prescribe in this
> behalf.
>
> — Criminal Procedure Code, 1898, Chapter XIV, Section 154. Retrieved from the corpus
> indexed by FAI Legal Research Assistant. Unverified for currency or amendment — confirm
> against an official or recently updated source before relying on it.

## What this means

An FIR is the written record a police station is required to make of a report of a
**cognizable offence** — one serious enough that the police can investigate and arrest
without first obtaining a magistrate's order. Information given orally must be taken down,
read back to the person giving it, and signed by them. A running register is kept at the
station.

Section 154 covers only cognizable offences. A **non-cognizable** offence is instead recorded
under Section 155 CrPC, and ordinarily requires a magistrate's permission before the police
can investigate.

## What this page does not cover

- Amendments and provincial rules made after this text was indexed.
- Remedies where a police station refuses to register an FIR (outside Section 154 itself).
- Investigation, charge sheet, and trial procedure, governed by later chapters of the Code.

## Frequently asked

**Is an FIR the same as a criminal charge?** No. An FIR opens an investigation; it is not a
finding of guilt or a formal charge.

**Can the police refuse to register an FIR for a cognizable offence?** Section 154 does not
give the police that discretion for a cognizable offence — the information "shall" be reduced
to writing. Disputes over refusal are addressed through remedies outside this section.

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