The Additional District Court in Bareilly has charged a woman under Section 195 of the Indian Penal Code for presenting false and fabricated evidence with the intent to secure a conviction. This occurred when she initially provided a statement in a rape case, later retracted it, and ultimately became a hostile witness, resulting in the wrongful conviction of an innocent man.
The Case
This case dates back to 2019, when Ajay Kumar, alias Raghav, was booked for kidnapping and raping his colleague’s sister, and the girl, who was fifteen then, told the court as well as the police that she was kidnapped and raped by Ajay.
For this, Ajay spent a jail time of around four and a half years, i.e., the man was behind bars from September 30, 2019, to April 8 this year. She told the court that she was sedated and raped by the accused, for which he was booked under sections of rape and wrongful confinement by the POCSO Court. Four years later, she changed her statement and said that Ajay was innocent.
On February 8th, she informed the court that she had provided the statement under duress from her mother, who harboured disfavour towards Ajay because of his relationship with her elder sister.
The Court’s Observations
The court held that because of the ill-intentioned statement of the woman, an innocent man was wrongfully imprisoned in jail for 1,653 days. The court held the woman liable for her offense and hence sentenced her to 1,653 days in jail along with a fine of Rs. 5.9 lakh. In the event of non-payment of the fine, she will have to undergo simple imprisonment for an additional 6 months.
The court held that the government and judiciary ensure that there are strict actions taken in women-related complaints. But this doesn’t give women the license to take undue advantage of the law and adversely impact the rights of men.
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