The Delhi High Court has raised serious concerns over the increasing trend of filing and later retracting rape complaints, warning that such conduct undermines the credibility of genuine survivors and burdens the criminal justice system. Refusing to quash a rape FIR on the ground of subsequent marriage between the complainant and the accused, the court stressed that the matter must go to trial.
Justice Girish Kathpalia, delivering the judgment, held that quashing the FIR at the current stage — when a chargesheet has already been filed — would risk “encouraging the abuse of process of criminal justice machinery” if the allegations later turned out to be false.
“If the complaint lodged by the prosecutrix is not truthful, quashing the same would tantamount to encouraging the abuse of process of criminal justice machinery. The trend gradually setting in across society to lodge false complaints with impunity and thereafter retract needs to be checked,” the court stated in its order.
The case concerns a woman who accused her neighbour of raping, sodomising, and blackmailing her using objectionable photos. She also alleged sexual abuse by the accused’s brother-in-law. Both men had moved the High Court seeking to quash the FIR, arguing that the complainant had since married the main petitioner.
Rejecting the plea, the court said that even if the complainant were to turn hostile during trial, her statements would be scrutinised, and appropriate consequences would follow if she was found to have filed a false complaint.
The bench remarked that the marriage appeared to have occurred just 10 days before the chargesheet was filed, prompting the court to question whether it was “justified to push the survivor into the matrimonial fold of her tormentor.”
Justice Kathpalia further observed, “If the complaint is true, instead of extending premium to the accused by pushing the helpless survivor into his matrimony, the state must ensure her a dignified life by providing her food, shelter and clothing.”
Distinguishing the case from typical instances involving failed romantic relationships or promises of marriage, the court emphasized the need for a full trial to determine the truth of the allegations.
“Every false complaint adds to the already overburdened docket and gives an impression that even genuine complaints are untrue, thereby causing grave injustice to actual survivors of rape,” the court added.
