New Delhi [India], April 6 (HBTV): The Tis Hazari Court has directed that a complaint be filed against a woman for committing the offence of perjury by giving a false statement in a rape case.

‘It takes one's lifetime to build a reputation but only a few lies to destroy the same,’ the court observed.

While acquitting the accused, the court noted that the prosecutrix had given a false deposition and concocted a fabricated story of rape and threat.

The woman, a resident of Ujjain, had alleged that she was called by the accused to Delhi for sightseeing and was raped at a hotel in the Nabi Kareem area in November 2019.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Anuj Agarwal acquitted the accused, citing the prosecutrix’s false testimony.

‘Though it is trite to state that the testimony of a prosecutrix, if found to be trustworthy and credible, requires no independent corroboration, in the instant case, the victim's testimony is not of sterling quality for the reasons already discussed above,’ the judge stated.

‘Rather, it is evident from the record that the prosecutrix gave false deposition before this court and concocted a mendacious story of rape and threat,’ ASJ Agarwal added in the judgement dated April 4.

The court acknowledged that the accused had become the real aggrieved party in this case. ‘The word “aggrieved” cannot be confined only to the complainant but there may be cases where even the accused becomes the real sufferer, standing before the court with folded hands and beseeching justice for themselves,’ the court said.

ASJ Agarwal emphasised, ‘It takes one's lifetime to build a reputation but only a few lies to destroy the same. Therefore, in my view, an acquittal simpliciter cannot recompense the agony of the accused who had to undergo the trauma of trial for such heinous offences based on a false story of sexual assault.’

‘Since it is clear from the record that the prosecutrix made a false statement before this court, let a complaint under Section 379 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita [BNSS] for offences of perjury as punishable under Sections 229 and 231 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita [BNS] be sent against her to the court of Learned Chief Judicial Magistrate (Central) by the Ahlmad of this court,’ the judge ordered.

(ANI)