How to Check FIR Status Online in India (And Track the Criminal Case)

Last updated: 28 September 2026

To check FIR status online in India, get the FIR first. The police must give the informant or victim a free copy under Section 173(2) BNSS, and many state police portals show FIRs. eCourtsIndia Crime Reports also holds 12 lakh+ FIR PDFs from 13 states and UTs (September 2026). Then track bail, the chargesheet and hearings in court records.

eCourtsIndia is a private platform, not a police website or the Government’s eCourts portal (ecourts.gov.in).

On eCourtsIndia, the FIR and the court case sit in two places. Open Crime Reports, choose the state, police district and station, and find the FIR by number and year; the original FIR PDF costs ₹1 after you sign in (as of September 2026). Then follow the criminal case that grows out of it on eCourtsIndia search by accused name, CNR or case number. The Crime Reports PDFs are collected records, not every FIR registered by the police. This guide starts with the official police routes, then walks through both halves: finding the FIR itself, and tracking what the courts do with it.

What does “FIR status” mean?

A First Information Report (FIR) is the police’s first written record of information about a cognizable offence, that is, an offence for which the police can arrest without a warrant. For FIRs registered on or after 1 July 2024, it is recorded under Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS), which replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) from that date.

Section 173 lets you give the information orally or by electronic communication (an e-FIR). An e-FIR is taken on record once you sign it within three days. The police station must record it irrespective of where the offence was committed, which is why people call it a Zero FIR when it is filed outside the area.

FIRs registered before 1 July 2024 were recorded under Section 154 CrPC and usually cite IPC sections. Investigations and trials already pending on that date continue under the CrPC (Section 531(2)(a) BNSS). Each FIR number only makes sense alongside its police station and year: FIR 123/2026 at one station is a different FIR from 123/2026 at the next (illustrative numbers).

When people ask for the “status” of an FIR, they usually mean one of two things. The first is the FIR document: what exactly was written, which sections were invoked, who the complainant and accused are. Our list of important BNS sections explains the offence sections you are most likely to see. The second is what happened next: has the police filed a chargesheet, has a court taken cognizance, when is the next hearing, has anyone got bail. The first lives with the police. The second lives in court records. eCourtsIndia covers both, through two different tools, and it helps to know which one you need before you start.

What you want to know	Where to look on eCourtsIndia	What you search with
What the FIR says (the original document)	Crime Reports	State, police district, station, FIR number, year
Whether a bail or anticipatory bail plea has been filed	Case search	Accused’s name, district, case type BA or ABA
Whether a chargesheet has reached court, and the trial stage	Case search and the case page	Accused or complainant name, CNR, case number
Whether the FIR is being challenged in the High Court	Case search	Petitioner’s name with the High Court selected

How do I get a copy of an FIR from the police?

Start with the official routes. They are free, and the police are the source of every FIR.

• At the police station. Under Section 173(2) BNSS, a copy of the FIR must be given forthwith, free of cost, to the informant or the victim. Ask for it in writing if it was not handed over.
• On your state police citizen portal. Many state police websites have a “View FIR” or “Search FIR” page, for example the Karnataka State Police FIR Search, Madhya Pradesh Police View FIR and the View FIR and e-FIR services on the Uttar Pradesh Police website. FIRs in sensitive cases are not published there.
• Through the Digital Police portal. The Ministry of Home Affairs’ Digital Police portal lists the services that state police citizen portals offer, including copies of FIRs and the status of complaints. Some state portals, such as Uttar Pradesh’s, are built on CCTNS (the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems).

In Youth Bar Association of India v. Union of India (Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 68 of 2016, decided 7 September 2016), the Hon’ble Supreme Court directed that FIRs be uploaded on police or State Government websites within 24 hours of registration. Where connectivity is poor, this can stretch to 48 hours and at most 72 hours. FIRs in sensitive cases, such as sexual offences, POCSO, insurgency and terrorism cases, may be withheld, but only an officer of Deputy Superintendent of Police rank or above can decide that. If a copy is refused as sensitive, you can write to the Superintendent of Police, or the Commissioner of Police in a city, whose three-officer committee must decide within three days.

How to find an FIR on eCourtsIndia Crime Reports

Crime Reports is a browsable collection of FIR PDFs, organised as state, then police district or unit, then police station, then individual FIR. It is not a national FIR register and it is not a police website. It holds the FIRs that have been collected and imported so far, and each page says so plainly. Here is the route, step by step.

1. Open ecourtsindia.com/CrimeReports. You will see a map of India and a list of all 36 states and union territories. Imported states show how many FIRs are available; the rest say “Records not yet imported”.
2. Pick the state. For Delhi, for example, the Delhi page lists police districts such as South-East, Outer, Dwarka and Central, plus special units like Metro, Railways and Special Cell. Some units are listed with “no PDFs available yet”.
3. Pick the police district, then the police station. The station page opens with a Find an FIR box.
4. Type the FIR number and choose the year, or leave the number blank and narrow by year alone. Below the search box you can also filter the full list by FIR year and registration month.
5. Open the FIR. The public page shows the location, the FIR reference (for example 0471/2026) and the registration date.
6. Sign in and accept the one-time ₹1 charge (as of September 2026) to view and download the original PDF.

The same pages work on the eCourtsIndia Android app and the iOS app, which is handy if you are standing at a police station or a court registry and need the FIR number in front of you.

Which states are covered (September 2026)

Crime Reports holds 12 lakh+ FIR PDFs from 13 states and union territories (September 2026). The state counts below are rounded-down floors. Imports continue, so check the live page for today’s figure. These are collected records, not the total number of FIRs registered by police.

State or UT	FIR PDFs available (at least, September 2026)
Bihar	6.6 lakh+
Karnataka	2.2 lakh+
Maharashtra	1.5 lakh+
West Bengal	66,000+
Chandigarh	43,000+
Meghalaya	34,000+
Manipur	27,000+
Goa	11,000+
Puducherry	5,700+
Delhi	5,100+
Kerala	570+
Mizoram	230+
Andaman and Nicobar Islands	60+

Two cautions. First, depth varies a lot. Bihar has FIRs going back several years, while Delhi’s imported set is mostly 2025 and 2026, and within a state some police districts are listed with no PDFs yet. Second, an FIR missing from Crime Reports does not mean it was never registered. It may simply not have been collected, or it may belong to a category the police do not publish (sensitive offences are often withheld from public portals).

Why can’t I find my FIR online?

An FIR missing from a police portal or from Crime Reports does not mean it was never registered. The usual reasons are that it is in a sensitive category the police withheld, it was registered within the last day or so and is not uploaded yet, you are searching the wrong police station or year, or Crime Reports has not collected it or your state yet. If your state is not imported yet, or the FIR is not in the collection, these routes still work:

• State police citizen portal. Search the portal of the state where the FIR was registered, as described above. Check the police station and year before you search.
• At the police station. Section 173(2) BNSS entitles the informant or the victim to a free copy of the FIR as soon as it is recorded. Ask for it in writing if it was not handed over.
• Through the court. Once a police report is filed, Section 230 BNSS (the old Section 207 CrPC) requires the Magistrate to supply the accused, free of cost and within 14 days of production or appearance, a copy of the police report and the FIR, among other documents. Where the police withheld an FIR as sensitive, the Youth Bar directions let the accused apply to the court the FIR was sent to for a certified copy, to be given within three days.

What if the police refuse to register an FIR?

If the officer in charge refuses to record your information about a cognizable offence, you can send the substance of it in writing, by post, to the Superintendent of Police (Section 173(4) BNSS). You can also apply to the Magistrate, who can order an investigation under Section 175(3) BNSS. That application must be supported by an affidavit. An advocate can help you draft it.

How does an FIR become a court case?

An FIR on its own is a police document. It becomes a court matter at one of a few points, and each point leaves its own trace in court records:

1. Remand and bail. If someone is arrested, they are produced before a Magistrate. Bail applications are registered as separate matters in the Magistrate’s court, the Sessions Court or the High Court. The case-type label varies by court, for example BA or “Bail Application”.
2. Anticipatory bail. A person who fears arrest can apply under Section 482 BNSS (the old Section 438 CrPC) to the Sessions Court or High Court. These often appear as ABA matters, sometimes weeks before any chargesheet.
3. Chargesheet or closure report. When investigation ends, the police file a report in the Magistrate’s court under Section 193 BNSS (the old Section 173 CrPC). A chargesheet leads to cognizance and a criminal case with its own CNR number. A closure report leads to proceedings on whether to accept it.
4. Quashing. The accused can ask the High Court to quash the FIR, under its inherent powers saved by Section 528 BNSS (the old Section 482 CrPC) or through a writ under Article 226. Our guide to High Court case status shows how to find these petitions.

This is general information, not legal advice. Speak to an advocate about your own case before deciding on bail, anticipatory bail or quashing.

If you are still thinking in CrPC section numbers, our CrPC to BNSS mapping for lawyers lines up the FIR, arrest, bail and cognizance provisions side by side, and the IPC to BNS mapping does the same for the offence sections you will see on an FIR.

How do I track the criminal case online?

Once the matter is in court, you can follow it free on the official eCourts case status portal or on eCourtsIndia. Our guide to how to check court case status online covers the official routes, CNR and SMS in detail.

Case search on eCourtsIndia does not accept an FIR number or police station as a search filter, so you find the court case by the people in it or by its court identifiers. The FIR PDF gives you what you need for that: the accused’s name, the complainant’s name, the district and the sections invoked.

1. Go to ecourtsindia.com/search.
2. Enter the accused’s full name (or the complainant’s, in a private complaint). Use the name exactly as it appears on the FIR, and try spelling variants if nothing turns up.
3. Narrow by state and district, and if you know it, by case type: BA for bail, ABA for anticipatory bail, or the trial court’s criminal case types.
4. Scan the results for matching party names and dates that follow the FIR’s registration date. The Acts and Sections shown on the case page should line up with the FIR.
5. Open the case page for the stage, next hearing date, court and judge, advocates and every order passed.
6. If you already have the CNR from a court notice or your advocate, paste it into search and you land straight on the case.

Name search runs across the Supreme Court, all 25 High Courts and the district courts that publish on the eCourts network, so one query can surface a bail matter in the Sessions Court and a quashing petition in the High Court together. Our litigant search guide covers name matching, spelling variants and filters in more detail. If you are sure a case exists but cannot find it, use Add a Missing Case to ask for it to be added.

What the case page shows you

Once the case is registered, its page carries the case type and number, filing and registration dates, the next hearing date, the current stage, the court and judge, both sides’ names, the advocates on record, the Acts and Sections, and the full list of orders. Each order can be opened and read. An AI summary of a long order costs ₹2, and you can download court orders and judgments as the PDF published by the court for ₹2 (this is the court’s published PDF, not a certified copy). Reading the case record itself is free (prices as of September 2026).

A typical criminal trial moves through a fairly predictable sequence: chargesheet filed, cognizance taken, summons or warrant issued, accused appears, charges framed, prosecution evidence, defence evidence, arguments, judgment. Every step leaves an order behind. Read the order history and you can see where a case is stuck. Ten back-to-back “prosecution evidence” dates with the same witness absent tells you more about delay than any statistic. The case status dictionary explains what each stage label means.

How will I know if the chargesheet has been filed?

Between the FIR and the chargesheet, the matter is still under investigation and there is usually no trial case to find. The police must tell the informant or the victim about the progress of the investigation within 90 days, and can do so by electronic communication (Section 193(3)(ii) BNSS). If you have not heard, ask the investigating officer at the police station. That window can last weeks or many months. During it:

• Use your state police portal (or Crime Reports) for the FIR itself.
• Search the accused’s name with case type BA or ABA in the district and at the High Court. A bail or anticipatory bail matter is often the first court footprint of an FIR, and its orders frequently recite the FIR number, police station and sections.
• Search the High Court for a quashing petition in the accused’s name if you expect one.

An empty search in this phase does not prove anything on its own. It usually just means nothing has reached court yet.

Setting alerts on an FIR-linked case

Once you have found the court case, add it to your eCourtsIndia dashboard and switch on WhatsApp and email alerts. When our next refresh from the court record picks up a change (a new hearing date, a new order or a stage change), you get a message. Tracking costs ₹5 per case per month and each WhatsApp or email alert costs ₹0.50, paid from your eCourtsIndia credits (as of September 2026): the free plan gives 50 credits a month, and paid plans start at ₹250 + 18% GST a month for 500 credits. Unused credits carry forward. The full step-by-step, with a video, is in how to enable case alerts for any court case, and current prices are on the pricing page.

This helps an accused on bail who must attend every date, a complainant watching whether prosecution evidence is moving, and a lawyer carrying dozens of criminal matters. Complainants and accused persons who find orders hard to read can track your case in plain English. If you want tomorrow’s listings to show up while you browse, the eCourtsIndia Chrome extension adds an update badge for the cases you follow.

Is an FIR a criminal record? (hiring and background checks)

An FIR search answers a question about one incident. An FIR records an allegation. It is not a charge, and it is not a conviction. Many FIRs end in a closure report, discharge or acquittal. Use FIR and court data only for a lawful purpose, with the person’s knowledge, and in line with the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023. Our guide to court record check vs police verification vs FIR search explains which check to run.

An employer or a lender asking “does this person have criminal cases against them?” needs something broader and more careful: every court, every name variant, and a way to make sure the cases found actually belong to the person being checked. That is what LegalCheck does, starting from identity rather than from a bare name. Our guide to background checks in India explains when a name search is enough and when it is not, and the LegalCheck launch post covers how the report is built.

Corruption FIRs go to special courts

Corruption FIRs registered by an Anti-Corruption Bureau, a vigilance unit or a Lokayukta police wing follow the same path, but they end up in special courts. Our guide to tracking Lokayukta and anti-corruption court cases explains how to find them.

If your FIR is in Delhi

If your FIR is in Delhi, the Delhi district courts guide maps each police district to its court complex and shows how to read the daily cause list.

Related reading

• The eCourtsIndia search guide, every filter and operator you can use to find a case.
• CNR Number Decoded, the 16-character identifier on every case page.
• How to track all your pending court cases in one place, for lawyers managing many criminal matters.

Spotted an error? Write to support@ecourtsindia.com. To ask about removal of a record, see the eCourtsIndia FAQs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• Ministry of Home Affairs: Digital Police portal (services provided by state police citizen portals). Checked 28 September 2026.
• State police FIR pages: Karnataka State Police FIR Search; Madhya Pradesh Police View FIR; Uttar Pradesh Police (View FIR and e-FIR). Checked 28 September 2026.
• eCourts Services: official case status for district courts and High Courts. Checked 28 September 2026.
• BNSS, Section 173: information in cognizable cases (FIR, e-FIR signed within three days, free copy, refusal remedy), IndiaCode by eCourtsIndia. Checked 28 September 2026.
• BNSS, Section 175: Magistrate-ordered investigation on an application supported by affidavit. Checked 28 September 2026.
• BNSS, Section 193: police report; progress update to the informant or victim within 90 days. Checked 28 September 2026.
• BNSS, Section 230: copies of the police report and FIR to the accused; Section 482 (anticipatory bail); Section 528 (inherent powers of the High Court). Checked 28 September 2026.
• BNSS, Section 531: repeal of the CrPC and savings for pending matters, Indian Kanoon. Checked 28 September 2026.
• Youth Bar Association of India v. Union of India, W.P. (Crl.) No. 68 of 2016 (7 September 2016): directions on uploading FIRs, as reproduced in a Central Information Commission order, Indian Kanoon. Checked 28 September 2026.
• eCourtsIndia Crime Reports (FIR PDF counts, September 2026) and eCourtsIndia pricing. Figures as of September 2026.