Bombay HC issues notice to mother-daughter duo for lodging false rape complaint

Pointing out the rising trend in such cases, Justice Sadhana S Jadhav said, “This court has come across not less than four cases where at the stage of bail application of the accused, the prosecutrix (complainant) would submit before the court that the FIR was lodged in a hit of passion or to seek personal vendetta.” This would, the HC stressed, also be a travesty to justice.

The issue of such cases has been raised earlier also. In July, 2015, a different Bench of HC heard a PIL filed by a Mumbai-based NGO Association for Aiding Justice, which contended that 75 per cent of acquittals in rape cases were due to the registration of false cases. The PIL, therefore, urged guidelines for the police to follow while dealing with complaints made after substantial delay or on false promises of marriage. The case is pending.

In this particular case, the woman, in course of the man’s bail hearing, revealed she was coaxed into lodging the rape complaint by her family members. She admitted to knowing the man’s marital status, while continuing the relationship with him. She even admitted of voluntarily undergoing an abortion. “It was on my request that the accused accompanied me to the clinic. I submit that the statement given by me to the police was under pressure from my family members. I had no intention to lodge the FIR since the accused was not solely responsible,” she said.

Her mother, on the other hand, said they have “settled the dispute” with the man. More importantly, the court was informed that the man had borrowed Rs 1.7 lakh from the complainant which he apparently returned only after the registration of the offence.

No citizen, the judge asserted, could be allowed to misuse the provisions of law to seek personal vendetta.