False Complaints Clog Criminal Justice System: PIL In Supreme Court Seeks Preventive Safeguards

The petitioner, Advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay has urged the Court to direct authorities to install prominent “Display Boards” at all police stations, tehsil and district court premises, panchayat bhawans, municipal offices and educational institutions, clearly spelling out the statutory provisions and punishments for false complaints, false charges, false statements, false information and false evidence. The plea contends that such disclosures are necessary to safeguard the right to life, personal liberty, dignity and reputation of innocent citizens under Article 21.

The PIL filed through AoR Ashwani Kumar Dubey also seeks directions requiring police and other authorities to inform complainants, before accepting any complaint, about the penal consequences of filing false or malicious cases. According to the petitioner, this step is essential to secure the freedom of speech and expression of innocent citizens, who otherwise live under constant fear of misuse of the criminal process.

In addition, the plea calls for a mandatory undertaking or affidavit from complainants affirming that the averments made in the complaint, statements, information, evidence and charges are true and correct. The petitioner argues that such an undertaking would act as a minimal safeguard to deter false complaints and help control the flood of frivolous cases choking the justice system.

Relying on empirical data, the PIL points to figures compiled from reports of the National Crime Records Bureau, which allegedly show a stark disparity between the number of cases registered and convictions under several special criminal laws. Acquittals, the petition claims, run into disproportionately high numbers, revealing a structural problem of false complaints, false charges and fabricated evidence.

The petitioner has also drawn support from Law Commission of India Report No. 277, which identified false charges, fabricated evidence and wrongful prosecutions as major causes of miscarriage of justice and violations of Article 21. The Commission, the plea notes, found that existing remedies against perjury and false prosecution are episodic, uncertain and largely ineffective, with a large percentage of undertrials eventually acquitted after years of incarceration.

While acknowledging that Chapter XIV of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023 contains penal provisions dealing with false information and evidence, the petitioner argues that the absence of any administrative or preventive framework has rendered these provisions largely inoperative. Penal laws existing only on paper, without mechanisms to operationalise them, amount to arbitrariness by State inaction, the plea submits.

Invoking Article 14, the PIL argues that the State’s failure to uniformly inform complainants of legal consequences or to create safeguards against abuse results in unequal application of criminal law and allows its selective weaponisation. Such deliberate inaction, it is contended, defeats the constitutional guarantee of equality before law and fair administration of justice.

The petition further asserts that false cases have a chilling effect on fundamental freedoms under Article 19. Fear of malicious prosecution, it says, suppresses free speech, restricts movement, undermines the right to carry on trade or profession, and discourages legitimate dissent and enterprise. When citizens and professionals operate under the constant apprehension of false FIRs, constitutional freedoms become illusory.

Emphasising Article 21, the plea states that false complaints and malicious prosecutions convert the criminal process itself into punishment, leading to loss of liberty, social stigma, mental trauma and irreversible damage to reputation even in cases ending in acquittal. The petitioner highlights that the judiciary is already overburdened due to false complaints and fabricated cases, yet neither the Centre nor the States have taken adequate steps to control these “menaces”.

Apart from the display boards and undertakings, the PIL also seeks a declaration that sentences for false complaint, false statement, false information, false charges and false evidence should run consecutively, and prays for any other orders the Court may deem fit to effectively control perjury and abuse of the criminal justice system.