UP court sentences woman to 7.5 years in jail for false gangrape and SC/ST Act case, highlights misuse: How rampant false rape cases have been a concern

On the 16th of June 2025, a court in Lucknow sentenced a woman named Rekha Devi to 7.5 years in jail for falsely accusing two men of raping her and for offences under the SC/ST Act. In addition to the jail term, the court also imposed a fine of Rs 2.1 lakh. The court also directed Uttar Pradesh government to recover Rs 2 lakh given to the complainant woman as compensation in June 2021.

The now-convicted woman belonging to Scheduled Caste community was awarded a total of Rs 8 lakh as compensation and the Rs 2 lakh she received in 2021 was its first instalment.

Notably, the court awarded two sentences to Rekha Devi. The 24-woman was convicted under Sections 182 and 211 IPC. The first prison term is of six months under Section 182 of the IPC and a fine of Rs 1000. This section is related to giving false information to a public servant with an intent to cause them to use their lawful power against any person.

The court awarded a second sentence of seven years under Section 211 of the Indian Penal Code and a fine of Rs 2 lakh. This section pertains to falsely initiating criminal proceedings against a person. “Both the prison terms will run separately and a fine of Rs 2.1 lakh has been imposed,” the court said addiing that these sentences will run consecutively.

In addition, the court ordered that Rs 1,00,500, which is half of the total fine amount, be distributed as compensation between the two falsely accused men.

The accused in her complaint included Rajesh, with whom she had an illicit relationship, and Bhupendra. Rekha Devi filed a fake case against Rajesh and Bhupendra to humiliate Rajesh’s wife and exact revenge.

However, Special Judge SC/ST Act, Lucknow, Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi, called accused Rajesh, ‘Most lucky False Gangrape case survivor’. Notably, Rajesh and Bhupendra had to spend 3 months in jail due to Rekha’s false FIR.

In a 42-page order, Judge Tripathi noted that false accusations of rape impact the accused man’s mental health and personality. It also attaches a stigma and makes it difficult for the individual to regain his self-esteem.

“It can lead to anxiety, depression and isolation in the person. These effects can affect his behavioural thinking in such a way that his social relationships can be affected and his self-esteem can be damaged. He can feel socially isolated and his employment opportunities can also be adversely affected due to legal and judicial proceedings”, the court observed.

The court also mentioned a verse from the Lanka Kaand of Shri Ramcharitmanas, which says that even before physical death, a person may be considered as good as dead if they exhibit any of fourteen specific traits, including “Ajasi” (dishonoured).

The chaupai quoted by the court is: “कौल कामबस कृपिन बिमूढ़ा। अति दरिद्र अजसी अति बूढ़ा ॥ सदा रोगबस संतत क्रोधी। बिष्नु बिमुख श्रुति संत बिरोधी॥ तनु पोषक निंदक अघ खानी जीवत सव सम चौदह प्रानी॥”

The court explained the meaning of the Chaupai and said that a person who is so discredited in society that they are considered socially dead, as was the case with the two accused men Rajesh and Bhupendra aka BK, who the court noted, suffered irreparable damage to their honour and reputation.

“It is often said that a bad man is better than a bad name, and hence, a wise person will endure all hardships to avoid disgrace. Disrepute can destroy everything, making a person, though alive, equivalent to a corpse,” the court order reads.

Notably, co-accused Bhupendra aka BK passed away in July 2024 at the age of 29, while the trial was on. The court expressed dismay over the young man’s demise and said that the emtional and social trauma inflicted by the false rape case lodged against him, contributed to his untimely demise. Judge Tripathi also remarked that Bhupendra’s untimely death remains a question warranting serious introspection by the country’s justice system.

The court held Rekha Devi directly responsible for Rajesh and BK’s character assassination.

In addtion, the court also raised concerns over rising misuse of the POCSO Act, SC/ST Act, Dowry Harassment Prevention Act etc.

In view of this, the Court recommended to the Commissioner of Police, Lucknow, that when someone files a formal complaint (FIR) for a serious crime, like rape or gang rape (as defined by Sections 376/376D IPC and the SC/ST Act), the police should include in the new FIR the number of prior FIRs that have been filed by the same person or by their family members, whether against the same accused or others.

The Court further suggested that when a complainant approaches the court to register a FIR under Section 173(4) of the BNSS, police should disclose any previous cases the complainant has filed in response to the court’s inquiry.

False rape cases destroying lives of innocent men

There has been a significant increase in incidents wherein women filed false rape cases against men for various reasons, especially to get revenge after relationship turns sour. It has also been seen that such false cases are filed to extort money from accused men by offering out of court ‘settlement’ to withdraw cases. Basically, file a false case, extort money, and take the case back.

In February this year, the Ghaziabad Police in Uttar Pradesh arrested a woman for making false gang rape allegations and sent her to jail. The Kavi Nagar police took Jyoti Sagar into custody after investigations revealed that she had filed three separate cases.

The woman initially filed a case against her husband in June 2024, alleging that he had raped her under the pretence of marriage and that their unborn child had died due to physical assault. However, during her court testimony, she retracted her allegations.

In August 2024, she filed another case, this time accusing her husband’s brother-in-law, Vikrant Tyagi, and Deepak Chauhan of threatening her to change her statement. Yet, just four days later, she appealed to withdraw the legal proceedings.

On January 23, 2025, the woman lodged another complaint with the police commissioner, claiming that her husband, Vikas Tyagi, had deceived her with false promises of marriage and had used caste-based slurs against her. She also accused his friend, Vaibhav Chauhan, of coercing her at gunpoint to give a false statement and write a fabricated letter. However, police investigations determined that all these claims were untrue. Police suspected that she may have fabricated these allegations in an attempt to take control of the property.

Supreme Court quashed rape case against a man accused by a woman of rape after their consensual relationship turned sour

In May this year, the Supreme Court quashed criminal proceedings against a 23-year old rape accused saying that a consensual relationship turning sour cannot be a ground for filing a rape case. A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and Satish Chandra Sharma said in its judgment dated May 26, 2025 that such cases burden the court and bring disrepute to the person accused.

The Supreme Court cautioned the courts against treating every breach of promise to marry as a false promise and then prosecuting the accused for rape. “A consensual relationship turning sour or partners becoming distant cannot be a ground for invoking criminal machinery of the State. Such conduct not only burdens the Courts, but blots the identity of an individual accused of such a heinous offence. This Court has time and again warned against the misuse of the provisions, and has termed it a folly to treat each breach of promise to marry as a false promise and prosecute a person for an offence under section 376 IPC,” the Court said.

The Supreme Court said that even if the allegations in the FIR are considered to be true, there was nothing to prove that the sexual intercourse happened against the will of the complainant and merely on the promise of marriage.

Delhi court ordered perjury proceedings against woman for filing false rape case

In April this year, a Delhi court ordered initiation of perjury proceedings against a woman for filing a false rape case in 2022. Judge Anuj Agrawal of the Court of Additional Sessions noted that the case involved a honey trap in which the victim strategically ensnared the accused in order to extract money from him, while acquitting a man accused of sexual harassment, rape, criminal intimidation, assaulting a woman with the intention of disrobing her, and outraging a woman’s modesty. The judge observed that in addition to being contradictory, the prosecutrix’s testimony was fundamentally skewed, inconsistent, and full of fabrications.

The court stated that a mere acquittal could not make up for the unfortunate accused’s suffering because the false claim of rape had the ability to ruin his reputation and break his spirit. It also pointed out that it was clear from the record that the woman had made a false statement in before the court.

“I am reminded of one famous English poem which rhymes as ‘The song of the meek, will darken any brow, as they cry aloud and beseech justice.’ But how to find strength, to do the right, so that the meek shall also survive is the question before this court? The answer perhaps lies in hearing not only the shrieks of a complainant but also the unheard cries of a person standing before this court with folded hands beseeching justice for a crime that he never committed, which got louder as the lies of the prosecutrix got manifested with the progression of the trial,” the judge said.

Allahabad HC acquitted man convicted of rape and murder after rape allegation not cofirmed

In August 2024, the Allahabad Court acquitted a man who was convicted for the attempted rape and murder of a 100-year-old woman seven years ago. The bench of Justices Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Dr. Gautam Chowdhary overturned the trial court’s judgment which awarded the accused life imprisonment. It overturned his conviction on the grounds of lack of independent witnesses and the absence of confirmation of rape and murder in the medical report. It noted that the evidence indicated that the deceased died due to ‘septic shock’ and not due to any blow or injury.

Based on the testimonies, forensic evidence, and medical report, the High Court bench found that there was no sign of rape and murder of the deceased. The court observed, “…this fact is credible that the complainant falsely implicated the accused to get the money from the government. Sunny Kumar had falsely implicated the accused by committing a criminal conspiracy because of the money taken from the accused. This is because the prosecution witness No. 1 has admitted in his cross-examination that ‘after the death of my grandmother Phullo Devi, my father and his three brothers had received Rs. 8.25 lakh from the government.’”

Bombay HC quashed FIR against 73-year-old rape-accsed man after it turned out that woman filed fake case

In July 2024, the Bombay HC quashed an FIR lodged in 2018 against a 73-year-old man who was accused of raping a woman on the false promise of marriage. The High Court bench comprising Justice A.S. Adhikari and Justice Neela Gokhale stated that the parties had been in a sexual relation for up to 31 years and that the complainant had never spoken up about her apparent opposition to the relationship.

The court, however, observed that the complainant was aware of the applicant’s marriage and still stayed in a relationship with him. Also, the applicant never promised to divorce his first wife to marry the complainant.

“She is adult enough to know that the law forbids a second marriage and there is no allegation in the complaint that, the Applicant promised to divorce his first wife and then marry her. Even otherwise, this would purely be wishful thinking on the part of the complainant that the Applicant will marry her after divorcing his existing wife,” the court said.

Consensual sex between adults does not amount to rape: What the Supreme Court said in the Deepak Gulati vs. State of Haryana case

In Deepak Gulati v. State of Haryana (2013), the woman (at that time 19-year-old) consented to sexual relations with the assumption that the accused would marry her, despite the fact that “she was conscious of the fact that her marriage may not take place owing to various considerations, including the caste factor”. The defendant served more than three years of his sentence before being acquitted by the Supreme Court.

“Consent may be express or implied, coerced or misguided, obtained willingly or through deceit. Consent is an act of reason, accompanied by deliberation, the mind weighing, as in a balance, the good and evil on each side. There is a clear distinction between rape and consensual sex and in a case like this, the court must very carefully examine whether the accused had actually wanted to marry the victim, or had mala fide motives, and had made a false promise to this effect only to satisfy his lust, as the latter falls within the ambit of cheating or deception. There is a distinction between the mere breach of a promise, and not fulfilling a false promise,” the court said.

Unless coercion is involved, consensual sexual relations not rape: Supreme Court in Dhruvaram Murlidhar Sonar vs The State of Maharashtra case

In the Dhruvaram Murlidhar Sonar vs The State of Maharashtra case, wherein a widowed assistant nurse accused Dhruvaram Murlidhar Sonar who worked at the same place as a medical officer of raping her, the Supreme Court stated that consensual physical relationships between adults cannot be deemed rape because the relationship does not culminate in marriage, given that there was no deception or coercion involved.

“Males cannot be singled out in voluntary sexual union”: When Calcutta HC acquitted a man accused of consensual sex with a minor girl

Back in 2021, the Calcutta High Court absolved a man booked under the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act, noting that a male alone cannot be indicted for an act of consensual sex between two sufficiently mature persons. The court noted that the 16-year-old girl voluntarily participated in the sexual act and she was not naive to not know about its implications.

If the union is participatory in nature, there is no reason to indict only the male just because of the peculiar nature of the anatomy of the sexual organs of different genders,” a single-judge bench of Justice Sabyasachi Bhattacharyya said.

There have been many other cases, wherein the courts found that women levelled false rape cases against men they either had consensual sexual relations with but relationship turned sour, to take revenge or to extort money by first filing a case then offering to take back case in exchange of money.

The prevalence of fake rape charges can be understood by the fact that, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures, around 74% of rape cases under Section 376 of the IPC conclude with the accused being acquitted.

It is unjustified to accuse a partner of rape in the aftermath of a consenting sexual relationship. It not only weakens genuine instances of sexual violence but diminishes the gravity of the offence. False accusations have the potential to devastate people’s lives, reputations, and professions, as well as result in false convictions or lengthy legal proceedings. Using rape accusations as a revenge tactic is harassment of accused men and an attack on their dignity.

False rape charges for personal vendetta after a relationship turns sour or use it as a weapon to target men also perpetuate dangerous preconceptions and biases against both genders, fostering a culture of fear and suspicion in relationships. In addition to destroying the lives of the involved men, these false allegations also harm the integrity of the judicial process.

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