Additional District Judge Gyanendra Tripathi sentenced the woman to 1,653 days of imprisonment, the same period the man had spent in jail after the false accusation.
In Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, a woman was recently convicted by a court for falsely accusing a man of rape in 2018, as per the case State of Uttar Pradesh v. Nisha.
Under the ruling of Additional District Judge Gyanendra Tripathi, the woman was sentenced to 4 years, 6 months, and 8 days (1,653 days) in prison, equivalent to the time the man spent incarcerated due to her false allegations.
Additionally, the court ordered the woman to pay approximately ₹5.9 lakh to the man she wrongly accused. It was emphasized that failure to pay the fine would result in an additional 6 months of imprisonment for her.
“Although it is absolutely appropriate and expected for the safety of women to be ensured by the government, administration and courts through related policies and laws, it does not mean that women who take unfair advantage of it will have the right to attack the interests of men. Exemption should be provided. Apart from this, the actions of proven guilty women, like the one presented in the case, are likely to harm the real victims of the society. In such a situation, it seems appropriate to punish the proven culprit (the woman) with harsh punishment,” the Court said. (translated to English)
In 2018, Ajay Kumar, also known as Raghav, was accused of kidnapping and raping his colleague’s younger sister, who was 15 at the time. Initially, the girl had informed both the police and the magistrate that Ajay had raped her.
However, during cross-examination, the girl admitted to fabricating her statement, confessing that she had intentionally lied to the magistrate and clarifying that Ajay had never molested or raped her.
Taking this into account, the Court decided to pursue legal action against the woman under Section 195 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973.
In its assessment, the Court highlighted that there was unequivocal evidence indicating no rape or kidnapping had occurred. Yet, due to the woman’s false testimony, Ajay was wrongly accused and had spent over 4 years in prison.
“This detention was a result of the false allegation of conviction. If the incident was true, then Ajay should have been punished, whereas in the cross-examination held after 4 months of supporting the incident in the main examination, the woman (present culprit) declared the above Ajay innocent,” the Court observed.
It went on to state,
“Government and judiciary ensure strict action in women-related complaints but that does not mean that woman can misuse or tend to take undue advantage of the law made for their protection, so as to violate the rights of men,” the Court said while convicting the woman for malicious prosecution.