Acquitting four persons accused of gang-rape, kidnapping and criminal intimidation by a female relative, a Sessions court here has said this was a classic case of misuse of rape-related laws. The alleged victim turned hostile in court and said her husband, with whom she had a strained relationship, had forced her to implicate the four, including a woman.

While acquitting the four men, Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat said: “I would like to put on record that this case is the classic illustration of misuse of rape-related laws. The husband of the prosecutrix, in order to settle scores with the accused, used the prosecutrix (his wife), as an arrow or pawn and slapped an utterly false criminal case upon the accused. It is becoming a very difficult job nowadays for courts to differentiate the genuine rape cases from the false ones. Cases like the present one create a well-founded belief among the public as well as the judiciary that rape-related laws are misused with impunity. The judges need to remain vigilant in differentiating between false and genuine rape cases so as to ensure that no innocent person is convicted and sentenced.”

The case was registered after she made a number of serious allegations before a magistrate against the four accused including gang-rape, kidnapping and attempts to sell her. However, while deposing in court she said she had fled her matrimonial home because of ill-treatment by her in-laws and taken refuge with her cousin. She told the court that according to the terms of the compromise her parents managed to strike with her in-laws to facilitate her return, she had to implicate the cousin who gave refuge to her. Her father also deposed on similar lines.