1. Public interest litigation regarding non-availability of FIR downloads on CCTNS Portal. (Para 1 )
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2026 Supreme(Online)(UK) 2159
IN THE HIGH COURT OF UTTARAKHAND AT NAINITAL
Manoj Kumar Gupta, CJ, Subhash Upadhyay, J
National Public Service Trust – Appellant
Versus
State of Uttarakhand – Respondent
Writ Petition (PIL) No.122 of 2026
Important Points
The court affirmed that FIRs must be accessible online as per Supreme Court mandates, except for sensitive crimes, and directed the State to provide a notification feature for those sensitive FIRs that are legally exempt from public upload.
Subject
Criminal Law - Procedural Law
Act Referred
Headnote
(A) Criminal Procedure - Accessibility of FIRs - Compliance with Supreme Court directions requiring the uploading of FIRs on police/government websites within 24-72 hours to enable accused persons to seek legal redressal, except for sensitive offences such as sexual offences, insurgency, terrorism, and POCSO Act cases. (Para 1)
(B) Public Interest Litigation - Technical Implementation - Where a State demonstrates that a Citizen Portal and Mobile App are functional for downloading FIRs, the grievance regarding accessibility is deemed addressed, provided that sensitive cases are excluded as per law. (Para 4, 6)
(C) Transparency in Administration - Notification of Non-Availability - For FIRs categorized as sensitive and thus not uploaded, the State should implement a feature indicating that such an FIR exists but is unavailable for download due to its sensitive nature, ensuring the user is informed of the reason for non-availability. (Para 7)
Issues: Whether the State of Uttarakhand had complied with the mandate to make FIRs available for download via the CCTNS Portal/Mobile App.
(B) Public Interest Litigation - Technical Implementation - Where a State demonstrates that a Citizen Portal and Mobile App are functional for downloading FIRs, the grievance regarding accessibility is deemed addressed, provided that sensitive cases are excluded as per law. (Para 4, 6)
(C) Transparency in Administration - Notification of Non-Availability - For FIRs categorized as sensitive and thus not uploaded, the State should implement a feature indicating that such an FIR exists but is unavailable for download due to its sensitive nature, ensuring the user is informed of the reason for non-availability. (Para 7)
Issues: Whether the State of Uttarakhand had complied with the mandate to make FIRs available for download via the CCTNS Portal/Mobile App.
Legal Category Hierarchy
- crime and sentencing
- practice and procedure
Advocates:
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Prabha Naithani
For the Respondents: Amrendra Pratap Singh, Puran Singh Bisht, B.S. Parihar
For the Appellants/Petitioners: Prabha Naithani
For the Respondents: Amrendra Pratap Singh, Puran Singh Bisht, B.S. Parihar
Table of Contents
2. Petitioner alleged failure to download FIRs; State claimed technical issues were resolved. (Para 2 , 3 )
3. System demonstrated working; FIRs downloadable except sensitive offences. Court directed feature to show reason for non-availability. (Para 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 )
4. FIRs must be uploaded within 24-72 hours; sensitive offence FIRs need system notice of non-availability. (Para 1 , 7 )
5. Concern addressed; proceedings closed with direction to enable feature indicating non-available FIR reason. (Para 8 , 9 )
6. What is the time limit for uploading FIRs on the police website?
FIRs must be uploaded within 24 hours of registration, extendable to 48 or 72 hours due to geographical connectivity issues. (Para 1 )
7. Which FIRs are exempted from being uploaded on the website?
FIRs related to sensitive offences like sexual offences, insurgency, terrorism, POCSO, and similar categories are exempted. (Para 1 , 6 )
8. What additional feature must be provided for exempted FIRs?
For exempted FIRs, the system must indicate the reason for non-availability so that users know why they cannot be downloaded. (Para 7 , 8 )
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Presence:-
Mr. Prabha Naithani, learned counsel for the petitioner
Mr. Amrendra Pratap Singh, learned Additional Advocate General, Mr. Puran Singh Bisht, learned C.S.C. and Mr. B.S. Parihar, learned Additional C.S.C. for the State
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JUDGMENT : (per Mr. Manoj Kumar Gupta, C. J.)
1. The present writ petition has been filed in public interest raising the grievance that accused persons connected with or subsequently implicated in the criminal cases and members of the general public are not able to download the FIRs from the CCTNS Portal. The petitioner places reliance upon the directions issued by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in “Youth Bar Association of India vs. Union of India & Another”, (2016) 9 SCC 473, in para 12(d) whereof, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has issued the following directions:-
“The copies of the FIRs, unless the offence is sensitive in nature, like sexual offences, offences pertaining to insurgency, terrorism and of that category, offences under POCSO Act and such other offences, should be uploaded on the police website, and if there is no such website, on the official website of the State Government, within twenty-four hours of the registration of the First Information Report so that the accused or any person connected with the same can download the FIR and file appropriate application before the Court as per law for redressal of his grievances. It may be clarified here that in case there is connectivity problems due to geographical location or there is some other unavoidable difficulty, the time can be extended up to forty-eight hours. The said 48 hours can be extended maximum up to 72 hours and it is only relatable to connectivity problems due to geographical location...”
2. Ms. Prabha Naithani, learned counsel for the petitioner had submitted before the Court on the last date that she herself tried to access the Portal but failed to download the FIRs and the system was continuously showing an error.
3. Having regard to the aforesaid contention and also taking into consideration the stand of the State, placed on record through instructions of Inspector General of Police (Crime, Law & Order), Uttarakhand, we passed the following order on 18.09.2026:-
“1. Ms. Prabha Naithani and Mr. Gaurav Pawar, learned counsel for the petitioner.
2. Mr. Amarendra Pratap Singh, learned Addl. Advocate General and Mr. B.S. Parihar, learned Addl. C.S.C. for the State of Uttarakhand.
3. Learned counsel for the State has placed on record the instructions received from the Inspector General of Police (Crime, Law & Order), Uttarakhand. According to it, the First Information Reports could be downloaded through Citizen Portal and Devbhoomi Mobile App. It is stated that some technical problem was there in the past which has now been addressed.
4. Learned counsel for the petitioner submits that she tried to log on to the App in the morning but could not succeed.
5. List next week.
6. The respondents shall ensure presence of some technical person in the Court on 23.09.2026 to demonstrate before the Court that the App is functional and the FIRs could be downloaded.”
4. In compliance of the said order, Ms. Nivedita Kukreti, I.G. Kumaun has appeared through Video Conferencing. Ms. Shahjehan Jawed Khan, S.P., CCTNS/SCRB, PHQ, Inspector Rachna Srivastav, Incharge CCTNS/SCRB along with their technical team are also present in the Court. The technical team has shown to the Court how the Citizen Portal and the Mobile App works. Initially, a person who seeks to download any FIR has to register himself on the Citizen Portal and once he is registered he can have access to the FIRs through the Citizen Portal as well as the Mobile App. The technical team has also demonstrated before us that the system is working by downloading few FIRs.
5. The S.P. CCTNS has supplied the details of persons who have downloaded FIRs on 22.09.2026, which is a list of 70 hits by different persons on the website.
