Mumbai: Responding to a petition seeking guidelines for police in cases where women levelled rape allegations against their former male partners, the state on Monday told the high court that the criminal procedure code (CrPC) and past Supreme Court judgments make it clear that the police is duty bound to register an FIR in a cognisable offence in such cases. The state added that it is not possible to issue guidelines while registering an FIR of rape.
On Tuesday, an affidavit was filed by Venkatesh Bhat, deputy secretary of the home department, stating that according to CrPC section 154 and the Supreme Court ruling in the Lalita Kumari vs state of Uttar Pradesh, it is not possible to issue guidelines to the investigation office to abstain from registering an offence in a class or classes of cases.
He further said “a fine balance has to be found between the right of the complainant and the need to protect a manifestly innocent person from the travails of an investigation and trial.”
The affidavit emphasises that “when the information relating to a cognisable offence is received by a police officer, he is duty bound to register an FIR and conduct the investigation. If at a later date, it is disclosed that no offence has been committed, the police officer is under obligation to inform the same to the court under the clause of Cr.Pc.
A division bench comprising of Justices Bhushan Gavai and Sandip Shinde was hearing the PIL filed by businessman Firoz Khan, who sought that the court should direct the state government to issue guidelines for cops when a rape allegation is made against a former male partner. A 20-year-old woman had made rape allegations against Khan at the Khar police station after they broke up.
In December 2016, the HC had quashed the case against Khan, after an application by girl stating that she had lodged the rape complaint in the heat of the moment. She had also alleged that the complaint was recorded in Marathi by the police and was not correctly explained to her. The court had expressed concern over the number of such false cases.
Khan and his girlfriend then filed a PIL urging the HC to frame norms for police in such cases, where the woman was in a consensual relationship with a man for a period of time and then made rape allegations after they broke up.
