Abstract

There exists the fundamental principle of criminal law “Innocent until not proven guilty”, presumption of innocence, yet there is an image that is created in the minds of people that a victim is “a victim” and the accused is “Guilty”, what if the accused is “the victim”, victim of false accusation? A person being accused can be described as “a person or people who may be guilty of a crime and who are being judged in a court of law.” A false accusation of the offence of rape occurs more often than most people would expect. When the reasons are traced, they are mostly intentional, or based on situational factors, innocence, or otherwise erroneous based on wrong testimonies. Many argue b a lot about the severe consequences of false accusations on the victim. But unfortunately, there is a dearth of good research on the consequences of false accusations of Rape. In order to address the lacuna, the current study focuses on the reasons and consequences of false accusation, psychological impact on the victim which includes societal remarks or stigma, personal and professional life, economic loss, impact on family, the gross violation of fundamental rights guaranteed by the constitution of India under Article 21 and Article 14 of the alleged perpetrator or the victim following the false accusation. An explorative study was conducted, visited various cases and statistics--the recent where a man acquitted after 20 years following false rape charges, cases of rise in false rape cases in Kerala and in various states of India. The rise in the women empowerment which is not bad at all following the long history of dominant patriarchal society but there is also a rise in the false charges which can harm society's fabric and a gross miscarriage of justice, abuse of law for different purposes, which needs to be addressed and regulated.

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