ARUN KUMAR BUDHIA Vs. STATE OF ORISSA

JUDGEMENT

(1.) In this writ petition, the petitioner has prayed for issuance of a writ of mandamus to the State of Odisha to make provision for supply of copy of F.I.R. registered by the police to the accused persons and/or their relatives and to directthe Odisha Police to upload the F.I.Rs. in their website within a reasonable time after registration.

(2.) The petitioner is an Advocate and has filed this writ petition in the nature of a public interest litigation to solve the difficulties faced by the accused persons, who were named in the F.I.R. registered against them in receiving copy of the F.I.R. for seeking appropriate relief for protecting their right to life and personal liberty. It is brought to the notice of the Court that most of the times the accused named in the F.I.R. is not aware of lodging an F.I.R. or contents thereof and, therefore, without an authenticated copy of the same, he faces handicap in moving appropriate applications before the Courts for protecting his liberty.

(3.) The State has filed a counter affidavit and in the said counter affidavit, the State has sought to bring to the notice of the Court that there is no provision in the Criminal Procedure Code or in the G.R. & C.O. (Crl.) to provide copies of the F.I.R. to the accused by the Police Officers.