THE ODISHA COURT DIRECTED THE STATE DGP TO ISSUE AN INSTRUCTION REGARDING FONT SIZE AND LINE SPACING WHILE PREPARING AN FIR

30th March 2021

Recently, in the case of Tunirai Pradhan & Anr v State of Odisha, the counsel for the petitioner placed a copy of the charge sheet before the HC. The HC said the charge sheet is not visible properly because of the very tiny font. Such small fonts cause wastage of time and energy of the court while reading the same. The Hon'ble Court directed the state DGP to issue an instruction to all police officers regarding the use of font size (12) and line spacing (1.5) while preparing an FIR. The handwritten documents also need to be prepared with better and legible handwriting as far as possible.

The DGP of Odisha has also been directed to file an affidavit within 3 weeks from today after he issues instructions.

"The font so chosen should have a higher readability quotient. Small font and irregular line spacing or slightly blurry letters, or bad handwriting act as a cue to diffluent reading and causes retarded information processing in mind. Changing the font size, line spacing etc., costs almost nothing, but it will have a great effect on the readability quotient of the text we read."

Author: Papiha Ghoshal