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Court was told that during trial, the victim turned hostile and admitted that no rape had been committed upon her
The Allahabad High Court recently expressed concern over false rape cases prevailing in the state. It said that this practice should be stopped and action should be taken against whoever lodges false FIRs.
The bench of Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav observed, "Every other day, such a case comes before the court where initially FIR is lodged under Section 376 IPC, POCSO Act, and SC/ST Act, on which investigation continues and both money and time are wasted. In this type of case, the victim's family also receives money from the government, but after time passes and the trial begins, they join the opposite parties and turn hostile, or do not support the prosecution's story".
"In this way, the time and money of the investigating agency as well as the court are wasted," The judge said.
Court was dealing with a bail application filed by a rape accused. The case had been lodged under Sections 376D, 506 of the IPC and Section 5/6 of the POSCO Act.
Pleading for bail before the high court, the accused's counsel argued that he had been falsely roped in the case. He also highlighted the delay in lodging of the FIR and submitted that no explanation had been given by the complainant in this regard. Moreover, he pointed out the contradictions in the victim's statements under Section 161 and Section 164 of CrPC.
Crucially, he asserted that during the trial, the victim had admitted that the accused and co-accused persons did not take her to the fields and did not commit the alleged rape. He apprised the court that due to this reason, she had been declared hostile.
Taking note of the facts and circumstances of the case, while the court granted bail to the accused without commenting upon the merit of the case, it ordered that if the victim's party has received any money from the government as compensation, it should return it with interest.
It also asked the concerned subordinate court that if a wrong case by the victim's side is found, then a case should be initiated against them as well.
"A copy of this order should be sent to the concerned subordinate court and the District Magistrate that if the present FIR is found to be false, then the money received by the victim should be recovered as revenue and deposited in the government account and the concerned subordinate court should take action against the victim and her party and initiate prosecution," court ordered.
Case Title: Aman v State of UP and 3 Others
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