New Delhi:

A district court in Uttar Pradesh’s Bareilly sentenced a woman to four years and five months in jail for filing a false case of rape against a man, recanting her statement and turning hostile during the trial. She was also fined Rs 5.88 lakh for robbing the man of earning opportunities during the time he was in jail as an undertrial.  

The court came down heavily on the woman over the fake case and said, “The real victims have to suffer due to the actions of such women. This is a very serious situation for the society. It is objectionable to use the police and the court as a medium to achieve one’s objective. Women can’t be allowed to attack the interests of men for unfair advantage.”

In 2019, the mother of the survivor, then 15 years old, filed a case of kidnap and rape against one Ajay, alias Raghav. Ajay, 21 years old then, worked with the teen’s sister at a jagrata company and would often visit their home. Soon, he became friends with the 15-year-old as well.

In her complaint to the police, the teen claimed Raghav drugged her with spiked prasad, took her to Delhi, locked her up in a room, and raped her. The man was jailed following the complaint.

Once the trial began, she retracted her statement and said the “accused” did not kidnap or rape her.

The court rapped her for her false complaint and, in a historic judgment, sentenced her to prison and released the “accused”.

The court noted that the man would have earned Rs 5,88,000 in the four years and five months he spent in jail as an undertrial had the false case not been filed against him.

With this, it ordered the woman to pay Rs 5,88,000 to the man and jailed her for an equal time – four years and five months.

Bareilly:

A purported video of a murder accused lodged in Bareilly Central Jail hosting a live video on a social media platform has surfaced and a probe has been ordered into the matter, police said on Thursday.

Action will be taken against whoever is found guilty in the investigation, they said.

Asif is accused of shooting a public works department (PWD) contractor Rakesh Yadav (34) to death on December 2, 2019, in the Sadar Bazar Police Station area of Shahjahanpur.

Another accused Rahul Chaudhury was also accused of having killed Yadav and the duo are currently lodged in Bareilly Central Jail.

A video of a murder accused lodged in prison went viral on social media, Deputy Inspector General (Prison) Kuntal Kishore said.

In the 2-minute-long video, Asif is heard saying, “I am in heaven and enjoying it.” On seeing the video on social media, the victim’s brother met District Magistrate Umesh Pratap Singh on Thursday and gave him a complaint letter.

He said in the letter that the murder accused were getting special facilities in the jail. He said that the two accused had been hired from Meerut to kill his brother.

DIG Kishore told PTI over the phone that he had seen the video. “A probe in the matter is underway. After investigation, legal action will be taken against whoever is found guilty,” he said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)