Religion Of Person Mentioned In FIR: HC To Haryana DGP To File Affidavit On Corrective Measures

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Friday directed the Haryana Police chief to file an affidavit by September 18 stating what corrective measures will be taken in case of taking serious note of a person’s religion being mentioned in an FIR.

The court heard a petition regarding a monetary dispute.

Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri noted that a similar issue arose in Punjab and later, the state’s director general of police issued instructions to the force against mentioning person’s religion in an FIR.

Taking cognizance of the language used in the Haryana Police FIR, Justice Puri stated, “In the FIR, the religion of a person has been mentioned. This is a serious issue. A similar kind of issue arose in the State of Punjab wherein the religion of a person was mentioned.”

In its recent order the court stated, “Earlier, this court had taken cognizance with regard to mentioning of a caste of a person in the FIR or in any police proceedings but so far as the mentioning of a religion of a person is concerned, the matter came up before this court pertaining to State of Punjab, wherein an affidavit dated 07.03.2022 was filed by the Assistant Inspector General of Police, Litigation, Bureau of Investigation, Punjab by annexing the instructions issued by the Director General of Police, Punjab that henceforth the religion of a person will not be mentioned.”

Thereafter, the Punjab DGP filed an affidavit dated on September 19, 2022 with regard to the corrective measures being taken.

Justice Puri directed the Haryana DGP to file an affidavit by September 18 stating what corrective measures will be taken up by the state regarding the matter, especially on the lines of Punjab.