Belagavi
Thirteen people have been sentenced to prison by the Principal District and Sessions Court in a case involving false rape allegations against their senior officer at the local HESCOM office. The main accused was given a sentence of three years and six months imprisonment and fined Rs 86,000. District and Sessions Court Judge L Vijayalakshmi Devi delivered the verdict.
The case began in 2014 when BV Sindhu, an engineer at HESCOM, filed a rape complaint at Malmaruti police station against Tukaram Balesh Majjigi, a superintendent engineer. It was later revealed that all 13 accused had collectively lodged a false complaint on behalf of the woman. Despite police investigations finding no evidence of rape and submitting a B report to the court, subsequent complaints in 2015 and 2016 surfaced, including allegations of threats and a suicide attempt by the woman.
In 2016, the woman admitted in court that nine people had induced her to provide false information. Police then filed a chargesheet against the 13 accused for defaming innocent individuals with their false complaint. After the accused sought to quash the case in the high court, the Supreme Court directed the Principal District and Sessions Court to prosecute them.
Special Public Prosecutor Muralidhar Kulkarni, who represented the government, highlighted the significance of the case as a deterrent against filing false complaints and harassing superiors.
