Zero FIR and e-FIR — the Section 173 BNSS Position, Fully Explained

Last updated: 11 July 2026 · By Advocate Manish Sharma, Faridabad · General legal information, not legal advice

From practice to statute — why Section 173(1) matters

Under the old CrPC, "Zero FIR" existed in circulars and judgments — Satvinder Kaur v. State (Govt. of NCT of Delhi) (1999) held that a police station cannot refuse to record information for want of territorial jurisdiction — but victims still met the counter-question, "yahan ka case nahi hai." Section 173(1) BNSS closes that door in the statute itself: every cognizable offence may be reported at any police station, irrespective of the area where the offence is committed. Refusal is no longer a jurisdictional argument; it is a dereliction with named remedies.

How a Zero FIR actually moves

1. Information given at any police station — orally (to be reduced to writing, read over, and signed) or by electronic communication.
2. Registration with number "0" at the receiving station; the informant receives a free copy forthwith (Section 173(2) BNSS).
3. Transfer to the jurisdictional police station — the station within whose territory the offence occurred.
4. Re-registration there under a regular FIR number; investigation proceeds under Section 176 BNSS.
5. Tracking: the case thereafter appears on state citizen portals and, once charge-sheeted, on eCourts against its CNR.

The transfer is an internal police obligation — the informant's right is complete at step 2. Where the receiving station registers but the transfer stalls, a written follow-up to the Superintendent of Police keeps the record alive; where registration itself is refused, the escalation ladder — Section 173(4) to the SP, then Section 175(3) to the Magistrate — is the designed route.

e-FIR — what the electronic route does and does not do

Section 173(1) puts electronic reporting on a statutory footing with one condition that decides everything: information given by electronic communication shall be taken on record on being signed within three days by the person giving it. The three-day signature is what converts an online submission into a registered FIR; an unsigned e-complaint remains information awaiting registration. In this region the practical channels are the Haryana Police HarSamay citizen portal (defined complaint categories), Delhi Police e-FIR (notably motor-vehicle theft and lost property), and the national cybercrime portal, cybercrime.gov.in, for online-fraud matters — the route examined in the frozen-bank-account guide. For offences requiring immediate scene investigation or medical examination, in-person reporting remains the sound course; the electronic route is a supplement, not a substitute.

Registration is the rule — Lalita Kumari and the narrow enquiry window

Where this matters most — the recurring Faridabad–Delhi fact pattern

The NCR produces the Zero FIR fact pattern daily: an offence occurs in Delhi while the complainant resides in Faridabad, or a matrimonial complainant has returned to her parental home in a different district from the matrimonial one. Section 173(1) means the complaint is lodged where the complainant is — the Faridabad station registers the Zero FIR and the transfer follows to the Delhi station, or vice versa. In matrimonial matters the Supreme Court has separately eased territorial rigour — Rupali Devi v. State of U.P. (2019) allows cruelty complaints to be lodged where the wife has taken shelter after leaving the matrimonial home. Which forum the case ultimately travels to still shapes strategy — the trial court, the bail forum, and the High Court all follow the jurisdictional station — and that forum-mapping across the Faridabad District Court, the Delhi district courts and the two High Courts is work the chamber handles at the very first assessment.

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

Police FIR nahi likh rahi — the escalation ladder · FIR — the first 48 hours · Bank account frozen by cyber cell · CrPC→BNSS mapping table