The Allahabad High Court has clarified that a second FIR cannot be filed for the same incident, as doing so would violate Article 21. However, if new statements, facts, or evidence come to light, a second FIR may be permissible.
In a recent ruling, Justice Manju Rani Chauhan addressed the case of Mrs. Sangeeta Mishra, canceling a magistrate’s order that denied her request to register an FIR concerning the conspiracy behind her husband’s murder. The court also dismissed a revision petition against this denial and instructed the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Mathura to reconsider the petitioner’s application under Section 156(3).
The case stems from events on May 3, 2020, when police discovered an unclaimed body. An initial FIR was registered based on a post-mortem report indicating murder by strangulation and tampering with evidence. Subsequently, a charge sheet was filed, leading to the petitioner’s imprisonment.
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Upon her release, Mrs. Mishra sought to register an FIR regarding the same murder incident, claiming a different conspiracy narrative. This request was rejected by the magistrate, and her subsequent revision petition was also dismissed. Both decisions were contested in the High Court.
Mrs. Mishra alleged that her father-in-law had divided his property without her or her husband’s knowledge, triggering a family dispute. On May 3, 2020, her husband’s brother came to resolve the conflict but subsequently vanished. Mrs. Mishra reported her husband’s disappearance to the police the following day and again on May 28, but no action was taken initially.
The court highlighted that the original police FIR accused the wife of strangling her husband, while her subsequent claims presented a different version of events. Thus, the court ruled that while only one FIR can be filed for a single incident, a second FIR may be registered if new evidence or facts emerge.