MUMBAI:

“It is extremely unfortunate that a person had to remain behind the bars for almost one year for being falsely prosecuted for a serious offence like (rape) Section 376 of Indian Penal Code,” said the judge, pointing to the impact such concocted prosecutions have on genuine cases.

“The court cannot be oblivious of the fact that the because of such false complaints, the genuine victims of rape and sexual harassment are viewed with jaundiced eye,” the judge remarked at one of the hearings. “The police machinery had spent its valuable time and other resources to investigate the case and file a chargesheet. Valuable time of the investigating agency is lost.”

The HC released Rajesh Yadav on a bail of Rs 25,000 and two sureties. As the police have filed a chargesheet, Yadav would now have to approach the trial court for discharge from the case.

Yadav was arrested on February 12, 2015, after the victim claimed that he had promised marriage and had had sexual relations with her. The complaint alleged that Yadav, who was married, had forced her to have an abortion and also forced her to steal Rs 1.7 lakh from home. The HC, in July 2015, rejected Yadav’s plea for bail. Subsequently, a fresh plea for bail was filed, this time with an affidavit by the victim claiming that she had lodged the FIR under pressure from her family. She said that she knew Yadav was married and had consensual sexual relationship with him.

The court then issued a notice to her and the mother.

Faced with the prospect of prosecution for fabricating evidence, the mother sought forgiveness. In response to a notice issued by the court, the mother claimed that the case had been filed as Yadav had not returned the Rs 1.7 lakh. She added that there was tremendous pressure from her family to teach Yadav a lesson and once the FIR was filed, he had returned the money. Additional public prosecutor Swapnil Pednekar opposed any pardon for the mother and daughter.

The HC deplored the trend of filing false rape cases and observed that it had come across at least four cases where the victim had appeared at the stage of bail saying she had lodged the complaint in a fit of passion or to seek personal vendetta. “This would not only be an abuse of process of law, but also a travesty of justice. No citizen can be allowed to misuse the provisions of law to seek personal vendetta. The court cannot afford to be a silent spectator and inaction on the part of the court would give a wrong signal to the society,” the high court said.

(Name of the accused changed to protect his identity)

A year after a youth from Amboli was arrested for allegedly raping a 20-year-old woman , the Bombay high court ordered his release on bail after the victim and her mother admitted that they had filed a false case for return of the money the accused had taken from them. Justice Sadhna Jadhav rapped the mother-daughter duo for falsely implicating the youth.