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The Court disposed of a PIL by a men's rights activist after observing that a response by police to an RTI request suggested that his representation was under consideration.
Delhi High Court
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking directions to maintain a database at each police district headquarters of women who have filed multiple sexual offence cases, directing the police authorities to take a call on this issue instead .
The PIL was submitted by men's rights activist Shonee Kapoor, saying that rape laws were being rampantly exploited with many sexual offenses accusations being made by the same victims over personal revenge, extortion or coercion.
He claimed the matter demanded court action and sought the formation of a database of women who filed multiple sexual crime complaints.
He also prayed for taking the identity cards of such ladies, ideally Aadhaar, to keep a check on them and to protect innocent folk.
The Bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela noticed that a response by police to an RTI request suggested that Kapoor’s representation was under consideration.
Hence, the Court disposed of the petition while instructing the appropriate body to quickly deliberate on Kapoor's representation.
“The counsel told about the reply of the authority to his RTI application, informing that his representation received by the police is under consideration of the senior officers. Accordingly, without expressing any opinion as to the merit or claim of the petitioner, this petition is disposed of with a direction to the authority to take an informed decision with expedition,” the Court said.
Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela
When the attorney argued that an order had been passed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a similar instance, the Chief Justice questioned,
The plea before the Court had argued that while there have been instances of repeated sexual crime allegations filed by the same person, the prosecution branch does not have any method by which the same is tracked.
“A number of cases have come in limelight whereby multiple sexual offences complaints have been filed by the same complainants which creates doubts in the veracity of multiple sexual offences complaints filed by the same complainant. The prosecution branch also does not have any system to know about the previous accusations of sexual offences had been made by the same complainant,” the petition said.
The petition further alleged that a substantial proportion of acquittals in such situations showed that a number of such cases were fake.
“A large number of acquittal of accused persons in Rape cases suggests possibility of falsely implication of accused persons resulting in the infringement of fundamental rights due to the false implication and prolonged harassment under false rape allegations and long trial and investigation. With the growing number of fraudulent or baseless reports and unavailability of the victims, public trust in rape allegations may diminish, making it more difficult for true victims to come forward,” the petition said.
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