FALSE CRIMINAL CASES WITH REFERNCE TO VISHNU TIWARI CASE
By : A. Thiruthi
In India, the statistics for False Rape cases have been increased. Women often misuse their power by filing false rape cases on innocent men. In India, there are several laws to protect women’s dignity from rape, sexual harassment etc. To protect women from harassment, certain provisions were put in place that protected them from social ills, one of those provisions was section 375 of the Indian Penal Code, 1840, which was in fact formed to protect women from sexual harassment and stop the growing number of rapes in the country. These sections were formed according to the miserable life of women, so they were very much in favor of the protection of women, which made men bear the burden of proof on themselves, but in modern times, there has also been a great misuse of this section for various means such as money, humiliation, revenge, etc.
Section 375 was formed to protect women from rape. But it is seen that this section is misused a lot. One of the famous sayings used with respect to section 375 is “A man is guilty until proven innocent and a woman innocent until proven guilty.” A recent legal development that took place is the Vishnu Tiwari Case. In this case, Vishnu was falsely accused of rape. The FIR stated that Vishnu sexually assaulted, raped and had beaten the women when she was 5 Months pregnant. He was arrested when he was 23 and now he is 43 years old. He spent 20 years in jail for a crime which he didn’t even commit. He was booked for rape and atrocities under SC/ST Act. This false rape case was a result of land dispute between them.
Laws were made to empower women and make them feel safe in patriarchal society but women have used this law as a sword that slaughtered the dignity of men in society through false accusations.
India’s conviction rate is 32%, which is self explanatory by the fact that there are a number of false reports registered in relation to rape in India. But the sad reality of our society is that we always support women when they accuse a man. The media is considered as the fourth pillar of democracy, but regardless of having any precise knowledge about the incidence even the media neither visual nor textual prefer talk about men innocence, but prefer to agree with other feminists or women’s empowerment groups develop an aura of humiliating the accused man in society or it can be said that a man is often found guilty as soon as society hears the accusations in his against. The victim of a false rape accusation is worse than the victim of a rape. No one can imagine the shock, trauma, ridicule and humiliation one suffers after being falsely accused of rape. Not only the man, but also his family or those close to him also suffer various consequences, few of which are isolation and ridicule. Their future is shattered and the humiliation and disgrace that society faces is enough to break anyone so hard that they could not even think of living as before. The false rape cases presented are not only a threat to men, but also serve as a parasite for our country as it degrades our country’s reputation around the world by increasing India’s crime rate.
I would conclude that the creators of section only had a one-sided view regarding section 375 as they only thought about the safety of women, but they did not create any remedy to safeguard innocent men in society .Although it cannot be said that the provision (section 375) should be gender neutral, as it will remove the last shred of justice that this section provides, as it will act as an obstacle for women who have to present a rape case genuine. In a situation like this, the legislature and the judiciary must work together to achieve a proper balance between men and women, ensuring that they are properly cared for under justice.
Well, in my opinion, to ensure that the virtue of justice is upheld, the judiciary and the legislature should focus on a solution so that the innocent men are not punished. This policy should be formulated in such a way that it can bring justice to the victim of a false rape accusation. The punishment should be long enough for women to have an idea of what they will face if they make false accusations against any innocent man in society, along with which they should be ordered to compensate the harm suffered by men during the trial which may include court fees, litigation fees and other damages. The women who suffer punishment will ensure that the men can regain the dignity lost by them during the trial and from the moment the women are imprisoned, it will send the message loud and clear that the accused was innocent, then it really will fly high and help the man easily recover from the trauma he faced during the trial. If this is properly implemented, then the false rape cases can be reduced and justice would be ensured.
