Most people's difficulty with the police is not a contested trial. It is being unable to get a complaint registered, or having a relative taken away with no record of it.

Both have remedies. They work considerably better when documented from the first hour.

Refusal to register an FIR

Registration of an FIR for a cognisable offence is a duty, not a discretion. Where the station house officer refuses:

Step one — put it in writing. Deliver a written application at the station and obtain a receipt or diary entry number. If that is refused, send it by courier or registered post and keep proof of dispatch. The paper trail is what makes every later step work.

Step two — the superior officer. An application to the SP/SSP or the DIG, who may direct registration. Attach proof of what you presented at the station.

Step three — the Magistrate. Under section 22-A/22-B of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the ex-officio Justice of the Peace may be approached for a direction to register an FIR where the police have refused. This is the standard and effective remedy, and it is used constantly.

Step four — a private complaint directly to the Magistrate under section 200, where the police route fails entirely.

Step five — constitutional petition under Article 199 in an appropriate case.

See how to file an FIR.

When an FIR is registered against you improperly

The mirror problem: a false or motivated FIR, frequently arising from a property dispute, a business disagreement, or a family matter.

The remedies are pre-arrest bail to prevent arrest while the matter is examined, and quashing where the FIR discloses no offence or the proceedings are an abuse. See bail after arrest and quashing an FIR.

Where a criminal complaint is being used as leverage in what is really a commercial dispute, both fronts should be handled together. See recovering money owed.

Someone has been picked up and there is no record

This is the situation where speed matters most.

Establish where they are. Ask at the station, and record who you spoke to and when. Detention must be recorded, and a person arrested is required to be produced before a Magistrate within twenty-four hours.

File a habeas corpus petition. Where a person is detained without lawful authority, or their whereabouts are not disclosed, a petition under Article 199 seeks their production before the court. It is fast, it is powerful, and it is the correct remedy — including where the family is told nothing at all.

See habeas corpus and unlawful detention.

Simultaneously, apply to the superior police officer in writing, and inform the relevant human rights body or commission.

If the person is a child, the juvenile justice framework applies with additional protections, and it must be invoked immediately. See juvenile justice and a child arrested.

Torture, custodial violence and deaths in custody

Custodial torture is prohibited, and Pakistan has enacted specific legislation criminalising torture and custodial death, alongside the Penal Code offences and the constitutional guarantee of dignity.

If you suspect ill-treatment:

  • Insist on a medical examination, and ask the Magistrate for one at the first production
  • Record injuries with photographs and dates
  • Make a written complaint to the superior officer, the Magistrate, and the relevant human rights commission
  • Preserve the custody record — when the person was taken, when produced, and by whom

These cases are difficult, and honesty requires saying so: they depend heavily on contemporaneous medical evidence. That evidence exists only if it is obtained at the time.

Demands for money

Where an officer demands payment — to register a case, to release a vehicle, to leave someone alone — the routes are the Anti-Corruption Establishment, NAB where its jurisdiction is engaged, and the police department's own accountability channels.

Document rather than confront: note names, badge numbers, dates, what was said, and who witnessed it. Do not attempt an entrapment yourself.

Where a demand is dressed as regulatory enforcement — sealing, inspection, seizure — insist on written notices and orders. Insisting on paper changes behaviour more reliably than anything else, and it creates the record for a challenge. See extortion and demands against a business and suing a government department.

Improper search, seizure and recovery

Search of premises and seizure of property must follow the procedure the law prescribes, including as to witnesses and inventories. Departures matter, and they are argued at trial — but only if they were recorded at the time.

If your premises are searched: ask for the warrant or the authority relied on, insist that an inventory is prepared and that you are given a copy, note the witnesses, and do not sign blank papers.

For vehicles and goods seized, ask under what provision, and pursue release through the proper application rather than informally. See arms licences and recovery cases and customs disputes at Karachi port.

Compensation and accountability

Beyond the immediate remedy, options include a constitutional petition seeking declaratory relief and directions, departmental proceedings against the officer, and a civil suit for damages for wrongful confinement, malicious prosecution or trespass. Malicious prosecution claims require the earlier proceedings to have ended in your favour, so they come later, and limitation runs. See limitation and the deadlines that end claims.

Practical advice, plainly

  • Everything in writing, always, with receipts and diary numbers
  • Do not sign blank papers or statements you have not read
  • Do not pay to make a problem go away — it rarely ends there, and it weakens every later complaint
  • Involve a lawyer at the first stage, not after a statement has been recorded
  • Where a family member is missing, treat the first hours as decisive

For overseas Pakistanis

Families abroad often learn of an arrest or a false FIR days late, and try to manage it by telephone. Engage counsel here immediately: applications for bail, quashing, habeas corpus and for registration of an FIR can all be pursued from here on your instructions, and matters left to run informally get worse.

See powers of attorney from abroad.

How the firm can help

We obtain directions for registration of FIRs where the police refuse, file habeas corpus petitions for persons detained without process, apply for pre-arrest bail and quashing of false cases, pursue complaints against officers through the proper channels, and bring constitutional petitions and damages claims where rights have been infringed.

See criminal law or constitutional and writ jurisdiction, or contact the firm. If someone is in custody now, today.