"Reckless And Ill Founded Allegations Against A Woman Who is Not A Party": Allahabad High Court Dismisses Plea Against Alleged Sex Racket

"The woman against whom allegations are levelled is not party to the proceedings. Even otherwise we are of the view that minimum standard of decency demands that identification of a woman is not required to be disclosed, in a fashion that has been done in the instance petition for writ," a Bench of Chief Justice Govind Mathur and Justice Piyush Agrawal observed.

Also Read: Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of Women & Children: Calcutta HC Lays Down Guidelines For Investigation & Prosecution

The Petitioner, Shiv Ram, had approached the High Court seeking a direction to the Senior Superintendent of Police, Kanpur Nagar, to take strict action against a sex racket, said to be knitted by several women.

The Petitioner had averred that he was in possession of several video cassettes and audio recordings, relating to the issue.

The Bench however noted that even though in the prayer clause the term 'several women' had been used by the Petitioner, but in the pleadings "reckless and ill-founded allegations" had been made against a single named woman.

Not only this, the Court noted that reference of said woman was also given in a representation to the police officials of the area.

The Bench while dismissing the petition, deprecated such averments and pulled up the Petitioner for making allegations against a woman in a "casual manner".

Also Read: Sex Workers Should Not Be Arrested, Rather They Must Be Treated As Victims Of Crime: Calcutta HC

Last year, the Supreme Court had issued notice on a plea seeking the protection of identity, reputation & integrity of individuals, allegedly accused of "Sexual Offences", till completion of the investigation into the "truthfulness" of such allegations.

"False accusation sometimes destroys the entire life of an innocent person and there has been instances where the person who has been falsely implicated have even committed suicide. It does not only destroy an individual's life but creates a social stigma to the family members too. Need of the hour demands that some preventive measures must be taken so as to avoid and to deal with such situations in the interest of justice," a PIL before the Top Court said.

Case Title: Shiv Ram v. State of UP & Ors.

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