MUMBAI: Claiming that one of the reasons for the over 75% acquittal in rape cases is the registration of “false cases”, a public interest litigation has been filed before the Bombay high court seeking guidelines while registering rape charges after a substantial delay or due to false promise of marriage. Hearing the public interest litigation filed by Pune-based organization, Association for Aiding Justice, a division bench of Justice Naresh Patil and Justice S B Shukre asked the petitioner to suggest draft guidelines.

“No person can be stopped from filing a complaint,” said the judges, adding, “The law says that when a complaint discloses a cognizable complaint, the police have to lodge a first information report (FIR). There can be an argument that guidelines need to be in place when such a complaint is filed, but these have to be based on Supreme Court judgments.”

Advocate Dipesh Siroya, counsel for the petitioner, said norms were necessary to ensure innocents are not booked and the guilty is punished. “There is a need to frame statutory guidelines for the police and other authorities for conducting a preliminary inquiry while entertaining a complaint lodged for rape on the allegation of false promise of marriage,” said Siroya.

The PIL referred to statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau. On an average, 22,000 rape cases were registered every year between 2007 and 2011. While in 2012, the acquittal rate in rape cases was 46%; in the first eight months of 2013 (for which exact figures are available), it shot up to 75%. The petition cited unnamed experts to claim that many were a result of false rape cases that had been registered.

The petitioners have focused on complaints registered in some cases after three to five years or on the ground that the man rescinded from the promise of marriage. “Technically, there is no clause in the Indian Penal Code that specifically labels the breach of a marriage promise as rape. Section 90, while defining “consent” in general, states that if consent is given “under a misconception of fact” and if the perpetrator is aware of this, then it cannot be deemed as consent. Courts across the country often use this section of the IPC to interpret cases of rape and breach of promise,” the PIL contended.

The court rulings in some cases have convicted the accused in such cases, while in others they have been acquitted. The petition also added that the new updated rape laws which included sexual assault was “widely-worded” and “ambiguous” in parts and lend itself to misuse.