Rewari court to put four women on trial for filing ‘false rape cases’

Haryana may have been in the spotlight for the increasing number of crimes against women in the state, but on the flip side it is also dealing with another peculiar problem—that of false cases being filed by women.

Earlier this month, a Rohtak court sentenced a woman to seven years in jail for a false gangrape complaint against her husband. Now, a Rewari court has taken strict view of women using false rape complaints as modus operandi for settling personal scores. The court had recently directed complaints against four women in separate cases, where their versions of rape complaints fell flat during police investigation and court trials.

Case 1: False case against 70-year-old man

In the first case, a Rewari village woman had filed a complaint against a 70-year-old man in October 2016, allegedly that he had been raping her six-year-old daughter. The police had registered a case and arrested the man. However, during the investigation and court trial, it was found that the woman had filed a false case against the 70-year-old man over an old personal enmity. Taking serious note that the woman tried using her six-year-old daughter to settle her personal motives, the court of additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Phalit Sharma has ordered to put the woman on trial under Section 211 (false charge of offence made with intent to injure) of the Indian Penal Code. 

Case 2: Kidnapping case filed after minor runs away from home

In yet another case, a Model Town area resident woman had on August 28, 2015 submitted a complaint against unknown for kidnapping and raping her minor daughter. The police, after registering a case, recovered the victim from Haridwar and conducted her medical test. During her statement before magistrate, the minor girl said she had deliberately run away from her house. The minor girl had even refused to go back to her home citing danger to her life from her mother. Taking her version into account, the court has now directed a complaint against the minor girl’s mother under Section 211 of the IPC. 

 Case 3: False gang-rape case to settle personal enmity

On February 9, 2015, a woman had lodged a complaint at Rampura police station in the district against four men for kidnapping and gang-raping her on January 1 earlier in the year. However, the court found all the allegations made by the woman against the four youths to be false and only to settle an old enmity against them. After acquitting the youths, the court of ADJM Phalit Sharma has now directed that a complaint under section 211 of the IPC be made against the woman. 

 Case 4: Abduction, rape claim falls flat during trial

Similarly, in another such complaint, the court of ADJM Phalit Sharma has directed a complaint under section 211 of the IPC against a Rajasthan woman, who had on July 29 filed a false complaint of kidnap and gang-rape against two Rewari-based men at Bawal police station. The woman had alleged she was abducted from Rewari’s Banipur Chowk on July 9 by two men, who gang-raped her. However, her version was found false during police investigation and court trial. 

Rewari SP Sangeeta Kalia said the recent decisions of the court were clear indications that such false cases will be dealt with extreme strictness. “The police and judiciary are both taking serious view of these false complaints. Section 211 of the IPC ensures that false complainants are appropriately fined and punished,” she said.