Palakkad: The Kerala Police have made it easy for complainants by allowing them to register a first information report (FIR) in any police station in the state. The onus is on the police station to identify the station concerned and send the FIR across to that station.

Complainants will not be required to go to the police station with jurisdiction over the area in which an offence was done, according to a press note from the police media centre.

The decision is in accordance with section 170 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

This change of rule will particularly help travellers wronged in a bus or a train. They can lodge a complaint when they get down from the bus or train.

Director general of police Lokanath Behera has sent a circular to this effect to all district police chiefs.

The Indian Penal Code stipulates that police officers who fail to act on a cognizable offence shall be punished with imprisonment of up to two years plus fine.

The new rule will protect officers from this section if they draw up an FIR and send it across to the police station concerned.

Behera warned of strict department-level action against those who refuse to comply with the new order.

A Constitutional bench of the Supreme Court has given detailed guidelines on filing an FIR in the Uttar Pradesh Government vs. Lalitha Kumari case.