It can be regarded as a history of sorts. In the last one week, the high court in Delhi had to make the observation that rape laws are often misused by women. The issue came to focus when Justice Kailash Gambhir while making observation in a case observed that the law is being used to harass and force the man to marry the girl.
In this case, the Judge grated anticipatory bail to a man against whom his estranged wife had filed a case of rape. The court observed that in many cases, it came to notice that the woman has had consensual sex on occasions and file rape case against the man when relationship breaks.
Such kind of incidents need to be tacked with quick efficiency as this not only makes a mockery of our judicial system but also increases the statistics of rape cases, putting additional pressure on system and society at large.
The High Court also exhorted that judges need to observe extreme caution when it comes to dealing with such cases. In many case, the court observed that women after having consensual sex file rape cases with the only motive of extracting money or forcing the man to marry them. This not only brings shame to the society but makes things difficult for those girls and women who have suffered brutality in any form.
In the last week only, Justice Suresh Kait and Justice G P Mittal quashed cases relating to gang rape of an executive and a minor child after discrepancies came to notice in the sequence of events and the statements of the victims. This sometimes leads to the court awarding sentence to a person who has not committed any crime, thus making mockery of the system. The High Court has observed that the judges should not get swayed by mere allegation of rape but should look into the evidences before becoming judgemental.
Justice Gambhir quoted the case of a woman who was into a physical relationship with a boy for two years. The boy refused to marry the woman after two years and the lady filed a case of rape in the court. In her complaint she maintained that she was being threatened by the boy and his family, all along. However, the judge refused to buy the argument citing that in case such a situation had arisen, the woman should have filed the complaint in the first instance.
Waiting for a period of two years is in itself an indication that all was not well with the lady and that her intentions were not right. The court however agreed that most of the rape complaints were genuine and the girl or woman in question has had to go through physical and mental torture but the cases filed with the sole intention of exhorting money and forcing the male to marry need to be curbed.
The observations made by Delhi High Court are very relevant in the times of increased sense of insecurity that prevails and by curbing such incidents only can we award justice to one and all.
