The Lahore police claim that they have a policy of hassle-free registration of first information reports (FIRs), with the objective of resolving a long-standing issue for citizens that often required intervention from higher-ups. However, interviews with complainants by this scribe tell a different story.

A stark disconnect seems to exist between the official claims and the public’s experience. Many citizens complain of inordinate delays in the lodging of FIRs. In many cases, particularly those involving monetary disputes, the police sometimes take several months before they register an FIR.

Mariam Mamdot, a resident of Davis Road, describes her ordeal. She says that after trying for months to get a complaint about a robbery registered with the police, she learnt that “some influential persons” were involved. “The police refused to register an FIR; they asked me to first withdraw the names of those people,” she tells TNS.

The FIR was finally registered against “unknown persons.” Mamdot says, the police neither proceeded against the actual suspects nor recovered the stolen items.

CCPO Bilal Siddique Kamyana says that without a proper “verification procedure,” registration of FIRs in monetary disputes could lead to injustice. Hence, he maintains, the Lahore police make “utmost efforts to verify the particulars and facts of the cases brought to them.”

Jamshed Khan, a factory owner in Shahdara, has a similar account. He alleges that some miscreants set fire to his factory’s electricity meter before fleeing the scene on a two-wheeler. However, CCTV cameras had captured the incident, so that the suspects could be identified.

Khan says the factory had narrowly escaped being gutted, but the meter had been destroyed. Despite immediately filing a complaint with the Shahdra police and providing the CCTV footage and pictures of the suspect, the police were “adamant about not registering the FIR.” According to Khan, a senior police officer was “patronising the accused.”

Imtiaz Sukhaira, a resident of Iqbal Town, too, says it took him several months to get an FIR registered about a bounced cheque. “Not until I greased their palm,” he alleges, did they register the complaint.

Rana Rehan Jung Bahadur, a lawyer at the Lahore High Court, sheds light on the legal aspect of it. He says, “The police are legally bound to register an FIR when they receive a complaint from a citizen.”

Jung Bahadur also notes that FIR registration remains a challenge for most citizens.

CCPO Bilal Siddique Kamyana has an explanation for the delays, especially in monetary disputes and complaints of embezzlement. He says that the hasty registration of FIRs in monetary disputes could lead to injustice. Hence, the Lahore police make “utmost efforts to verify the particulars and facts of the cases brought before them.”

The CCPO insists that his policy remains one of “free registration of FIRs and timely and merit-based investigation of cases.”

He claims that under his command complaints submitted at the front desk and on 15 (helpline) are registered without delay. “I am against withholding of FIR registration to claim a reduction in crime,” he says, adding that he is keeping a close eye on the implementation of the policy.

Farhan Ali, a spokesperson for the CCPO, adds that the policy of “free and transparent registration of FIRs is being implemented with zero tolerance for violation.” He also says that the “violators will face strict action.”

Ahsan Zia is a print and broadcast journalist