Puducherry police mandated to file FIRs in predominant regional languages of enclaves

The Police Department in Puducherry has made it mandatory for all police stations in the Union Territory to register First Information Reports (FIRs) in the respective regional languages of its enclaves.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Law and Order, R. Kalaivanan, in a press note, said Union Home Minister Amit Shah had recently directed the UT to register FIRs in Tamil for Puducherry and Karaikal, Malayalam for Mahe, and Telugu for Yanam. While the enclave of Mahe is geographically situated in Kerala, the Yanam region is located along the coast of Andhra Pradesh.

Mr. Shah had issued the direction at a high-level meeting that he had chaired to review the progress of the implementation of the new criminal laws in the UT. Following the directive from the Ministry, the Director General of Police Shalini Singh has issued a standing order to all the police stations, make it mandatory to file FIRs in the respective regional languages of its enclaves, the press note said.

The standing order will ensure police stations across the UT will register FIRs in the predominant regional language of their respective jurisdictions. The move was aimed at making the legal process more “comprehensible and accessible for the local populace, fostering greater trust and confidence” in the police force, the SSP said.

“Mr. Shah had emphasised the importance of this measure in ensuring that citizens can easily comprehend and engage with the legal process. This initiative is a crucial step towards the successful and people-centric implementation of the new criminal laws across the UT,” Mr. Kalaivanan said.