Men must be protected from false rape allegations: Court

Acquitting a lawyer in a rape case, a Delhi court on Monday said it was time to take a stand to protect men from the implications of such false cases.

A court in the national capital on Monday said that it was time to take a stand for men implicated in false rape cases, acquitting a lawyer who had been accused of the crime.

The court, which said the lawyer may file a case for damages against the complainant, made the observation after the woman in question retracted her complaint.

“It can’t be ignored that the accused, a lawyer, due to this case...has suffered humiliation, distress and misery besides expenses of litigation,” Additional sessions judge Nivedita Anil Sharma said.

“His plight may also continue after his acquittal as his implication may have caused an uproar in society but his acquittal may not even be noticed. He would continue to suffer the stigma of being a rape case accused,” the judge added.

“Laws for protection of women are being made but where is the law to protect a man from such a woman, where he is being persecuted and implicated in false case, as in the present case? Perhaps, now it is the time to take a stand,” she further said.

According to the prosecution, the woman, who was working as a clerk with the accused, alleged that she had been repeatedly raped in the chamber of the accused from 2010-2012. She also claimed that he had threatened to kill her if she disclosed the same to anyone.

The woman, however, turned hostile before the court, saying that the accused was innocent and she had lodged a complaint out of anger.