How to File an FIR in Kolkata, and What to Do if the Police Refuse

An FIR, or First Information Report, is the document that sets a criminal investigation in motion. In Kolkata it is also the document people most often struggle to get registered. This article sets out the procedure as it stands under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), which replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure on 1 July 2024, and then the two remedies available when a police station will not cooperate.

Which police are you dealing with?

Kolkata is unusual in having two separate police forces operating in what most residents think of as one city. Kolkata Police covers the core city and is organised into divisions, each under a Deputy Commissioner of Police. Everything outside that boundary, including Salt Lake, New Town, Howrah, Barrackpore and the suburbs, falls under West Bengal Police, organised into districts and commissionerates under a Superintendent or Commissioner of Police.

This matters for the second step below: when you escalate a refusal, the officer you write to is different in the two systems.

Step 1: Give the information to the police station

Under Section 173(1) of the BNSS, information about a cognizable offence can be given to the officer in charge of a police station orally or in writing. If given orally, the officer must reduce it to writing, read it over to you, and have you sign it. Cognizable offences are the more serious category, broadly those for which the police can arrest without a warrant, such as theft, cheating, assault causing hurt, criminal breach of trust and most offences against women.

In practice, go with a typed complaint. Keep it chronological, name the persons involved if known, state dates, places and amounts, and list the documents or evidence you have. Carry two copies and ask for the receiving copy to be stamped with the date and the station seal. Do not argue about which section applies; that is the officer's job, and a complaint overloaded with section numbers tends to be read with more suspicion, not less.

The BNSS also allows the information to be sent electronically. If you do this, you must sign the record at the station within three days, otherwise it is not treated as an FIR.

Step 2: The Zero FIR

Section 173(1) makes explicit what the Supreme Court had already laid down: information can be given at any police station, irrespective of the area where the offence was committed. The station that receives it registers it as a Zero FIR and transfers it to the station with jurisdiction. You cannot be turned away on the ground that "this is not our area". If that is the reason given, say the words "Zero FIR" and ask for it to be recorded.

Step 3: Take your free copy

Section 173(2) entitles the informant to a copy of the FIR free of cost, immediately. Make sure it carries the FIR number, the sections invoked and the date. Kolkata Police and West Bengal Police both publish FIRs online within a day or two, except in sensitive categories, so check that the online copy matches what you were given.

What about the preliminary enquiry?

One change under the BNSS that confuses complainants is Section 173(3). For offences punishable with three to seven years' imprisonment, the officer in charge may, with the permission of a Deputy Superintendent, conduct a preliminary enquiry for up to fourteen days to decide whether a prima facie case exists, before registering the FIR. This is not a licence to sit on a complaint indefinitely. If fourteen days pass without an FIR or a written reason, treat it as a refusal and move to the remedies below.

If the police refuse: Remedy 1, write to the senior officer

Section 173(4) of the BNSS provides that if the officer in charge refuses to record the information, you may send the substance of it, in writing and by post, to the Superintendent of Police. Within Kolkata Police jurisdiction the equivalent officer is the Deputy Commissioner of the division concerned; outside it, the Superintendent or Commissioner of Police for the district or commissionerate.

Send it by registered post or speed post with acknowledgement, and keep the receipt. The letter should state that you approached the named police station on a given date, that the officer refused to register the information, and should enclose your complaint. The senior officer may investigate the matter personally or direct a subordinate to do so. In our experience a well-drafted letter at this stage frequently results in registration within days, because it creates a paper trail that the station would rather not have to explain.

Remedy 2, apply to the Magistrate

If the senior officer does not act, Section 175(3) of the BNSS allows you to apply to the Magistrate who would have jurisdiction to try the offence, asking for a direction to the police to register the FIR and investigate. This is the successor to the old Section 156(3) CrPC application that Kolkata practitioners know well.

The BNSS adds two requirements the old law did not have. The application must be supported by an affidavit, and the Magistrate must first consider the submissions of the police officer concerned and may conduct an enquiry before passing an order. This means you should attach proof that you tried both earlier steps: the stamped copy of your complaint and the postal receipt for the letter to the senior officer. Without those, the application is weak.

In Kolkata, applications in respect of offences within the city go before the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court at Bankshall, and are then allocated. For offences in the South 24 Parganas portion of the metropolitan area, the Alipore courts have jurisdiction.

Timelines worth knowing

• There is no limitation period for giving information about a cognizable offence, but delay must be explained and weakens the case.
• The FIR copy is to be given immediately on registration.
• An electronic complaint must be signed within three days.
• A preliminary enquiry, where permitted, must conclude within fourteen days.
• The Section 173(4) letter has no fixed response period, but allow two to three weeks before approaching the Magistrate.

Common mistakes

Three things repeatedly undermine complaints we see. First, filing a "general diary entry" or a "written complaint" and assuming it is an FIR; check for the FIR number. Second, approaching the Magistrate before writing to the senior officer, which invites the application being returned. Third, a complaint that reads as a civil dispute, for example a loan not repaid, without the facts that make it criminal, such as the inducement that amounts to cheating. The facts, not the labels, decide whether the police must act.

Old law, new law

For readers who learnt the procedure under the CrPC: Section 154 CrPC is now Section 173 BNSS, Section 154(3) is now Section 173(4), and Section 156(3) is now Section 175(3). Offences committed before 1 July 2024 continue to be dealt with under the CrPC, so both numbering systems remain in daily use in Kolkata courts for some years yet.

This article is general information on Indian law as applicable in West Bengal, current as of November 2026. It is not legal advice for your specific situation. Procedures, section numbers and limits change; confirm the current position before acting.