166A. Public servant disobeying direction under law.

Whoever, being a public servant,
(a) knowingly disobeys any direction of the law which prohibits him from requiring the attendance at any place of any person for the purpose of investigation into an offence or any other matter, or

(b) knowingly disobeys, to the prejudice of any person, any other direction of the law regulating the manner in which he shall conduct such investigation, or

(c) fails to record any information given to him under sub-section (1) of section 154 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, in relation to cognizable offence punishable under section 326A, section 326B, section 354, section 354B, section 370, section 370A, section 376, section 376A, section 376AB, section 376B, section 376C, section 376D, section 376DA, section 376DB, section 376E or section 509,

shall be punished with rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than six months but which may extend to two years, and shall also be liable to fine.

**Bold sections namely section 376AB, 376DA, 376DB have been added in August 2018. Here is the full amendment PDF. (88 KB)

CLASSIFICATION OF OFFENCE
Punishment—Imprisonment for 6 months which may extend to 2 years and fine- Cognizable— Bailable—Triable by Magistrate of the first class.

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COMMENT
Registration of FIR without holding preliminary inquiry is imperative both in respect of cognizable offence relating to crime against women and other cognizable offences. Section 166A confers no discretion on police officers to hold preliminary inquiry so far as other cognizable offences are concerned.
Lalita Kumari v. Govt of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 2014

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