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GURUGRAM: A Rewari court has ordered legal proceedings against a middle-aged woman for allegedly filing false cases against several men, including her ex-husbands and their family members, since 1996 to extort money or for other benefits.

Phalit Sharma, additional district and sessions judge, Rewari, passed the order a couple of days ago while hearing a 2017 case involving a policeman, who had been in touch with the woman since 2010 and was accused of raping her repeatedly. During the trial, it came to light that the allegations levelled against the cop were all fabricated.

The court acquitted the cop and order prosecution against the woman, a Rewari resident, under Section 211 (falsely implicating someone with intension to hurt) of the IPC. The charge, if proven, may result in a penalty or up to two year’s imprisonment or both.

During the investigation into the 2017 case, it was found that she had similarly implicated several men, including her ex-husbands and in-laws, in the past too.

In 1996, she had filed a complaint of rape against the father and brother of her first husband Harish Chander, alias Nehru. But eventually, she withdrew her complaints against the duo allegedly after extorting money from the ex-husband and his family.

Similarly, she had accused Manoj (in 2003), Surender (2013) and Pradeep (2014) — all her former husbands — of rape and domestic violence, and later settled the cases for money. In 2012, she had also accused Rajender of sexual assault after a long-term relation with him, but backtracked on her allegations in court. She then married the man the day he was acquitted by court in the rape case.

In the latest case, the woman filed a complaint on June 7 last year and alleged that the policeman had raped her on several occasions. She also alleged that the cop had put pressure on her through her relatives for a ‘compromise’ and used his official power to warn her against filing any police complaint.

Based on her complaint, an FIR was filed against the cop. But after months of trial, the court, in its order, observed that the woman created a totally baseless story without any evidence — verbal, medical and circumstantial — to prove her allegations. “The complainant had misused law to falsely implicate the accused (the cop) in a manner similar to earlier cases of rape,” observed the court.

“If no punitive action is taken against such a complainant, this court would fail in its duty,” the court added.

