An incident about a man being released from jail after 20 years on a false rape charge made headlines recently. In 2020, a man falsely accused of rape was awarded Rs. 15lakh in compensation by a Chennai court. The sort of reporting devoted to incidents of false rape charges and the outrage on social media by men and men’s rights groups give the impression that this is a big and systemic problem. But is it? Let us look at some facts about gender-related violence to help us decide:
Firstly, what are ‘false charges’? Charges proved to be false as well as charges made and then withdrawn when they reach the courts are treated alike as ‘false charges’. While a small proportion may actually be made-up, in a majority of these so-called 'false' cases, the charges are withdrawn because the complainant/victim faces pressure or threats.
When someone makes an accusation against someone else, the outcome of the matter is usually decided based on who is more powerful and resourceful. Those that have the money and the influence to pursue a matter through the legal system typically prevail. In matters of rape as well, there is a power imbalance between the accuser and the accused. In a vast majority of cases, that power balance favours the man, since the patriarchy is both systemic and institutionalised in our country. Men overwhelmingly occupy positions of power and decision making in society. In rare cases the opposite may be true: there could be women who utilise their own or their family’s power/influence or resources to falsely persecute men for personal vendetta and so on.
However these are very much the exception to the rule. Remember, we are a country where women are jailed for speaking out against the powerful. The case of ex-minister Chinmayanand is one: the woman who accused him of sexual exploitation is currently in jail. In the case of M J Akbar, Priya Ramani was slapped with defamation charges. If she was acquitted, it was because she had significant public support and good legal representation.
Also remember, an acquittal doesn’t necessarily mean innocence. An abysmally low proportion of accused in rape cases are actually convicted – the conviction rate is just 27%. Delay in reporting and investigation, refusal to register complaints are just a few obstacles that women face. The actual agony of undergoing a trial where her behaviour and character are called into question is a whole other nightmare. This is why so many cases don’t even go to trial.
And then consider this: what is guilt? A man may well believe that he is innocent – witness how one of the men held to be guilty in the horrific Nirbhay case was convinced that the victim only got what she deserved for behaving as she did. A significant proportion of men accused of sexual crimes actually believe they are innocent, quite simply because they were never properly educated about the very concept of consent.
Statistics show how an overwhelming majority of cases of gender violence are not even reported. False accusations are so few in number as to be statistically insignificant when compared with the sheer numbers of actual gender-related crimes and their vast underreporting. For reasons of family honour and because victim-blaming is the norm, very few women/families actually report sexual crimes. Even fewer cases go to trial and a tiny proportion of these are found guilty.
This is not to say that those who are falsely accused don’t spend time in jail as under-trials only to be released later being declared ‘Not Guilty’. They do. And this is a terrible travesty of justice. But then this travesty is inflicted on under-trials accused of other crimes as well in our country. In an overwhelming majority of cases, the under-trials are from poor and marginalised communities; those who cannot afford to navigate the legal system.
Last year there was a report of a man falsely accused of rape being awarded compensation in the amount of 15 lakh. Remember, compensation of any sort being awarded in matters of false charges /prosecution is extremely rare in our country. The fact that false accusers could be asked to pay compensation or face jail time for criminal defamation means that there are very significant deterrents in place to discourage false accusations.
So why are many men angry about this? Why is there so much reportage in matters of false accusations? The reason such cases make headlines and the reason why there is so much of a furore around them is precisely because of the rarity. In our country crimes against women continue to be a persistent and endemic social problem. The bogey of false rape charges against men is, by comparison, a mere distraction from this real, intractable issue.
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