BHOPAL: A 21-year-old journalism student from Bhopal got a rape case lodged against first-time Congress MLA Hemant Katare in February this year. Last Thursday, she made a U-turn before Madhya Pradesh High Court, saying she had levelled false allegations at the behest of BJP leaders. What the student did wouldn’t come as much of a surprise in MP’s tribal-dominated Alirajpur district—the birthplace of Chandrashekhar Azad—where an alarming trend of rape cases being lodged to settle scores or derive economic benefits has come to the fore.
As per Alirajpur district court records, of 28 rape cases decided in 2017, the accused were acquitted in 24, as the ‘victim’ said during trial that “no such incident happened to her”.In a case of alleged kidnapping and rape of a minor filed at Alirajpur Kotwali in 2014, district court records said “the accused was acquitted as… the victim girl told the court that a compromise had been struck with the accused”.
While acquitting the accused in July 2017, Alirajpur District and Sessions Judge Shobha Porwal observed in the verdict, a copy of which is with The Sunday Standard: “It’s a sorry state that law pertaining to serious offences like rape is being used to settle personal scores or as a tool to draw economic benefits.
“Such tendency is rising in the society which is damaging the reputation of innocent people and causing immense economic loss to them. Such developments warrant serious consideration and necessary action needs to be taken to address this dangerous trend.”
In a 2016 case lodged at Chandpur police station, the accused were acquitted as the victim told the court that “the matter pertained to throwing of garbage, but the police lodged a case of rape”.In another 2016 rape case lodged at Alirajpur Kotwali, the accused was acquitted after the victim said she had lodged the complaint under family pressure.
According to sources in Alirajpur district police, the population in the district is predominantly tribal. They are guided by local and powerful opinion-makers known as Patels or Tadwis, who also lend them money.
The Patels/Tadwis often force families of girls to file rape complaints with police. Once the case is filed, the alleged victim’s family is guided to build pressure on the kin of the accused so they can extract a hefty fine.
In most cases, the kin of the accused have to borrow money from these opinion makers to pay the fine. After this, the victim changes her statements in court, leading to the acquittal of the accused, police sources said.