Author: Shehryar Edibam, Student at D.Y. Patil School of Law, Navi Mumbai
INTRODUCTION
Cases of false rape allegations being made against men have been increasing at an alarming rate in India. Such allegations without a doubt completely destroys the life of an innocent man. It causes mental trauma, irreversible damage to their reputation, loss of honor, humiliation, loss of jobs and many more hardships. The accused person will have lifetime repercussions because of a lie. Even after these accusations are proven false, people would still have to thoughts about these accusations in the back of their minds. It should also be mentioned that false rape allegations also cause financial harm to the accused as he has to pay for a specialist team of lawyers for his defense which is an expensive affair. In recent times, the number of false rape cases in India has been rising rapidly and it has become a matter of great concern. According to men’s rights activists, women use such false allegations to settle personal scores. This is observed to be the most common weapon for women to get revenge against a man against whom they hold a grudge as such allegations completely tarnish the image of the man and on the flipside, the women are awarded hefty compensation. The women making such false allegations against innocent men should be prosecuted before the court of law and punished. There have also been rare incidents where a girl is persuaded by her parents to file a false rape charge for the purpose of revenge or extortion of money.
Some women have also reported being pressured by family members or the police to make false allegations. While false allegations can come from both men and women, the majority of cases in India involve women making false allegations against men
Furthermore, false rape allegations can have a detrimental impact on society as a whole. They can erode public trust in the criminal justice system and make it harder for real victims of sexual violence to come forward. False allegations can also perpetuate harmful stereotypes about men and women, which can fuel gender-based violence and discrimination.
According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), about 74% of rape cases under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) turn out to be fake.
