Why the false gangrape cases in Kolkata are worrying

While the country is faced with the mounting challenge of effectively curbing sexual violence against women, the police in Kolkata is faced with a rather curious case. They are now investigating a case, where they suspect that two rival gangs are filing complaints of rape against each other to settle scores.

A report on The Times of India says, “Two rival gangs based in Karaya and Beniapukur are using gang-rape complaints to settle scores and have lodged at least 10 false cases of rape and molestation in the past two years.”

The police smelled a rat when a complaint of gangrape filed at the Park Street police station turned out to be false. On further grilling the complainant, it was found that she had been threatened to lodge the complaint by a mafia gang. She told the police that she was made to sign documents written in English - a language she can’t read or write in - with the assurance that it was for applying for an Aadhaar card.

The complainant’s mother told the police that the girl has been ’trapped’ by one Shahzada gang and was being compelled to lodge false complaints. It was then found that the gang leader Shahzada too had a rape complaint lodged against his name in the past. The girl in question was made to file the false complaint to take revenge on Shahzada’s opponents.

While it is expected that goons like Shahzada would misuse laws, the case, however, reveals a dangerous reality of our society.

If we are to believe that the complainant, was forced against her will to file a false complaint, it shows how vulnerable middle class and lower middle class women are to thugs and goons in their neighbourhood. While one might want to call the girl stupid to have signed a document without determining its contents, it needs to be acknowledged that women rarely have the confidence to stand up to local gunda elements.

It is also a truth that women, at times even educated ones from affluent families, are encouraged to ignore harassment as long as they can or as long as it is not causing them any bodily harm.

In this case, given the number of rapes and molestation charges that have been traded, it is clear that several women were unable to say no to these gangs, when asked to register such a complaint.

From the looks of it, it appears that both Shahzada and his rivals are happy to use ‘gang-rape’ charges as a way to settle scores with each other. Women are reduced to collateral damage in such a case. However, when it is revealed that the case lodged was false, naysayers will pop up to say, ’look, we were right, women are at fault’ and completely ignore the circumstances under which they were made to lodge those complaints.

While this is not to say that there women never misuse the law,  arguing that a majority of women do this is wrong. And when rape charges are reduced to settle gang-wars, it not only trivialises the crime. It reveals the deep disregard that criminal elements treat the justice system with, which puts them completely at ease to misuse law. That is also a comment on how ineffective India’s justice-delivery system is, when it comes to cases like these.

Finally, in a country where women are still finding it tough to register FIRs where they are raped, such misuse by gangs will not help with the police attitude. As we had noted in this piece, the Goa police,which was quick to nab Tejpal, has remained lethargic in helping other victims of sexual violence in the state. Recently in Goa, three persons, including two women, beat up a woman, stripped her, dragged her around and stuffed chilly powder in her private parts over a property dispute. When the victim went to the police station to file an FIR, she was turned away.

In the Badaun gang-rape case, the police initially refused to register a complaint. Time and again, several cases have showed how the police in India is largely reluctant to register complaints of sexual assault and follow the case up with alacrity. We can only hope that cases like these don’t make it even more difficult for women to avail legal recourse in cases of sexual violence.