KOCHI: The Kerala high court has observed that the long-held notion in Indian society that no girl would falsely accuse someone of sexual assault has been diluted in recent years. The court noted that a small percentage of complaints alleging rape, sexual molestation and other misconduct are made without any basis in truth.
Justice A Badharudeen made these observations while quashing a case against a young man from Pattambi, who was accused of sexually exploiting a woman between May 30, 2014, and April 20, 2019, by deceiving her with a false promise of marriage. The bench further stated that such false allegations are sometimes made to settle personal scores or to pressure the accused into meeting the complainant’s unlawful demands. Therefore, the belief that no girl would falsely accuse someone of sexual assault should not be followed blindly without verifying the truth of the allegations on a case-by-case basis.
While considering the petition, the single bench noted that although the alleged first instance of sexual assault occurred on May 30, 2014, the crime was registered only in April 2019. The woman had initially lodged a complaint against the petitioner before the Women’s Cell, Palakkad, in 2016 but did not pursue it due to the petitioner’s renewed promise to marry her. Furthermore, in response to the accused’s petition to quash the case, the complainant submitted an affidavit stating that she had no objection to the proceedings being dropped.
Upon reviewing the case details and documents, the bench concluded that the relationship between the petitioner and the complainant was purely consensual and accordingly quashed the case.
