NEW DELHI: Time has come for courts to deal firmly with women filing false rape complaints as they are tormentors warranting punishment, a Delhi court has said.

False rape cases makes the crime graph shoot up, play havoc with the crime statistics and tend to trivialize the offence of rape and, "no sooner that the news of a person having been accused of rape spreads in the society, he is looked down upon by all and sundry," it observed.

While the act of rape causes intense emotional distress and immense humiliation to the victim, at the same time one cannot lose sight of the fact that false implication in a rape case causes equal humiliation, disgrace and mental agony to the accused, the court further said.

"He (rape accused) as well as his family is ostracised from the mainstream. He is humiliated and ridiculed everywhere. Even his honourable acquittal by the court is not taken note of and does little to salvage his lost honour and dignity. He has to live with the trauma of having been a rape accused throughout his life," Additional sessions judge Virender Bhat said.

The court made the remarks while directing lodging of a complaint against a woman who had registered a false rape case against a Delhi businessman at the behest of someone who wanted to settle scores with him.

"This court would be failing in its duty if appropriate proceedings are not initiated against the prosecutrix (woman) for giving false evidence against the accused," it said.

The court acquitted the businessman and said, "based upon the evidence led by the parties, it is manifest that the prosecutrix has lodged a false complaint of rape against the accused at the behest of somebody else, who wanted to settle scores with the accused and used prosecutrix as a pawn."

It said, "this case is a classic example of how men are being falsely implicated in rape cases to settle personal scores with them. This is a perfect illustration of total misuse of rape laws."

"Time has come when the courts should deal firmly with the women filing false complaints of rape. These women, who turn out to be tormentors and not the victims, should be punished under the appropriate provisions of law," it said.