Nagpur woman cooks up fake gang-rape story 'to marry boyfriend'
What's the story
In Nagpur, more than a thousand policemen spent five to six long hours scanning CCTV footage from across the city and questioning dozens of people.
The action was necessitated after a 19-year-old woman filed a complaint Monday alleging abduction and gang-rape.
However, the case turned out to be false as the investigators found she had cooked up the entire story.
Here are more details.
Context
Why does it matter?
The case highlights the pertinent issue of misuse of laws against sexual violence over which courts have expressed worry.
Earlier this year, a peculiar case surfaced from Gurugram where a 20-year-old woman filed seven rape cases against seven different men in a span of one year.
In fact, nearly 40% rape cases were declared false by police in Haryana between 2018 and 2020.
Complaint
What were the woman's allegations?
The Nagpur woman alleged she was raped by two men in an isolated area near Chikhali.
She claimed she was on her way to attend a music class when two people traveling in a white-colored van asked her about the road to Butibori.
The men then forcibly pushed her into the van and covered her face with a cloth, she further alleged.
Investigation
Police launched massive operation
Police launched a massive operation based on the woman's complaint which went on for hours.
Cops scanned the footage of more than 250 CCTVs across the city and questioned over 50 people but found no signs of her abduction.
The footage only showed her alighting a bus, walking, boarding two separate autorickshaws, and heading toward the Kalamna Police station where the complaint was lodged.
Action
Woman to face inquiry, police says
Police officials finally arrived at the conclusion the woman had cooked up the allegations.
When they questioned her, she confessed to filing a fake case and said she did it to marry her boyfriend who was reportedly planning to marry someone else.
Cops didn't reveal what her exact plan was.
Nagpur Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar reportedly ordered an inquiry and action against the complainant.