The Kerala High Court ruled that the belief that women never file false sexual assault cases is incorrect. It highlighted rising cases of false allegations used for revenge or personal gain.
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KOCHI: The Kerala High Court said that the belief that Indian women do not make false accusations of sexual assault because it may harm their reputation in society is not always true.
Justice A Badharudeen pointed out that in recent years, there has been an increase in cases where women file false complaints just to take revenge on men.
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So, the idea that women are unlikely to file false cases should not be applied to every situation without checking the facts of each case separately.
“In cases where sexual assault has been alleged, the said concept has been carried for the past so many years, on the premise that, in Indian society, any girl would not make any allegation of sexual assault or any other mode of misconduct against a person, as the same would prejudice the right of the girl or woman, as the case may be. However, in recent years, this concept seems to be diluted and in less percentage of the complaints in this line, wherein allegation of rape, sexual molestation and other misconduct projected are without any iota of truth, so as to settle a score and also to compel the persons against whom allegations are made to heed the illegal demands of the complainants. Therefore, this concept could not be followed blindly without analyzing the truth of the allegations in case to case basis (sic),”
-the Court observed.
The Court made this statement while hearing a case where a man requested the Court to cancel the legal proceedings against him under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with the crime of rape.
The case was about a woman who accused the man of raping her. She claimed that he falsely promised to marry her and then did not keep his word.
Surprisingly, the woman who had accused him later told the Court that she had no objection if the case was dropped.
However, the Public Prosecutor opposed this request and argued that the FIR (First Information Report) was based on the woman’s statement, which clearly suggested that a crime had happened.
The High Court noticed that while the incident reportedly took place in 2014, the case was registered only in 2019.
The Court also found that in 2016, the woman had filed a complaint with the Women’s Cell of the police but did not follow up on it because the man had promised to marry her.
This raised doubts about whether the woman’s complaint was genuine or not.
“When there is a complaint as to commission of rape on the promise of marriage, again withdrawing from prosecution awaiting marriage, that too for a period of three years, without having any contact in between the parties is not digestible to prudence,”
-the Court said.
After looking at all the details, the Court concluded that the relationship between the man and the woman was purely consensual.
“Therefore, the overt acts alleged against the petitioner herein is to be held as one with consent and it could not be held that the consent is vitiated by misconception of facts and the lethargy on the part of the defacto complainant would fortify the same,”
-the Court held.
So, the Court allowed the petition and quashed (canceled) all legal proceedings against the man in this case.
The petitioner (accused man) was represented by advocate UK Devidas.
The complainant (woman who filed the case) was represented by advocate KV Bhadra Kumari.
The Public Prosecutor Jibu TS appeared for the State.
CASE TITLE:
Ajith v. State of Kerala & Anr.
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