The Supreme Court has directed the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Ernakulam, to personally appear before it in a case concerning the alleged failure of the Kochi City police to register a First Information Report (FIR) on a complaint of outraging the modesty of a woman from a Scheduled category.
A Bench of Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah and Justice R. Mahadevan passed the order on Monday (May 11, 2026) on a special leave petition filed by a person challenging a Kerala High Court order denying anticipatory bail to her in connection with an assault and criminal trespass case registered at the Panangad police station in Kochi. The petitioner in the former case is the accused in the assault and criminal trespass case.
The Bench termed the affidavit filed by the State government, the first respondent, “thoroughly unsatisfactory.” The affidavit was submitted in response to an order issued on April 2, 2026.
The court observed: “The basic point, as to why, immediately upon receipt of the complaint filed by the petitioner, a formal FIR was not registered, has not been answered, despite it being an admitted fact that the complaint sent through the post was received by the Assistant Commissioner of Police, District Ernakulam, Kerala, on January 8, 2026.”
