

RANCHI: An Odisha girl, who earlier claimed that she was raped near Hatia railway station on July 23 and also that she was a minor, admitted to have cooked up the story to secure compensation after her medical reports false revealed that she neither raped nor was she a minor.

A team of doctors headed by Dr Tulsi Mahto conducted bone age test on the girl at Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences and reported that she was 19 years old and three months' pregnant.

Counsellor Seema Sharma, who was appointed by Jharkhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (JSCPCR) for examining her case, said the girl admitted that she was not raped and had falsely implicated one Pappu Kumar to make her claims look genuine. She said, "The girl revealed that she has been married for the last three years but her husband left her, few months ago. She is pregnant with the child of another man who lives in her neighbourhood. She also said that she lied under parental pressure."

Jagganthpur police station OC Anil Kumar said an FIR had been lodged in the case but when the medical reports arrived and it was found that the girl was lying, the case was closed. He said, "Initially, we lodged an FIR in the case but when JSCPCR and the hospital informed us that the girl is an adult and she was lying about being raped we closed the case"

Member of JSCPCR, Sanjay Mishra said false rape claims have become common, these days. "When we were investigating the Pakur case, where four school girls were gang-raped and compensation of Rs.1.20 lakh was awarded to all these girls, local residents told me that I will get to attend a rape case every day thereafter. No doubt the very next day two girls returned from Delhi claiming that they were raped which turned out to be a fake case again," he added.

Mishra further said it is the compensation money which forces girls to lodge false rape cases under pressure from their guardians. "Under the Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe (prevention of atrocities) Act, 1989, there is provision of compensating a rape victim with Rs 1.20 lakh," said Mishra.

He added, "In all such cases, it was observed that the girl hailed from to a very poor family and her parents forced her to lie for compensation."