Most false cases of crime against women in Haryana, 45% linked to rape

When the Gurugram police on Friday exposed the unusual case of a gang of three persons, including a lawyer, who would blackmail men by fabricating sexual assault cases, they were blowing the lid off a vast, unethical industry in the state that doesn’t think twice before filing false complaints.

The gang was trying to extort money by falsely accusing a man of sodomising an 8-year-old boy. Similarly, the police arrested a spa centre owner in Faridabad extorting money from a Delhi resident after implicating him in a false rape case.

Another notable case is that of a Gurugram woman who, in 2021, filed separate cases against seven different men, accusing all of them of rape on the promise of marriage.

The Haryana Police have confirmed that as many as 45.3 per cent of rape FIRs and 57.4 per cent of attempt-to-rape cases registered in the state in 2023, for which data has been analysed, were found false. This was revealed by the State Crime Record Bureau (SCRB) in its recent report.

Of 1,798 rape cases disposed of by the police in 2023, 814 were found false. Also, 124 attempt-to-rape FIRs of 216 were declared fake.

Overall, Haryana topped the country in false cases under crime against women, according to the National Crime Record Bureau’s 2023 report. As many as 6,680 FIRs (41.6 per cent) of 16,062 disposed of by the police were false.

A significant part of the false cases under crime against women were those registered for kidnapping and abduction. A total of 2,516 such cases were declared false out of 3,126 (80.5 per cent). Most of these were registered under Section 366 of the IPC (kidnapping and abduction of women for marriage), mainly involving women running away with their lovers and family members resorting to police complaints.

Another misuse, according to the state police, was seen in cases registered under Section 498A of the IPC (cruelty by husband or his relatives), where 1,555 cases were declared false out of 5,402, constituting 28.8 per cent.

After Haryana, the second-highest proportion of false cases under crime against women was reported in Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir, where 28.5 per cent each of the solved cases were found false. These states were followed by Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh, with 20.7 per cent and 18.3 per cent, respectively. In Madhya Pradesh, false FIRs formed 18.3 per cent of the total solved cases. In Punjab, 952 FIRs out of 5,985 were declared false, amounting to 15.9 per cent. Across the country, false cases under crime against women accounted for 7.9 per cent of the total.

According to the NCRB report, of the total cases disposed of by the police for crimes against Scheduled Castes, the Rajasthan Police declared 49.3 per cent of FIRs false, with Haryana ranking second at 45.9 per cent.

In Haryana, 702 FIRs of 1,529 under the SC/ST Act were declared false. Of these, 611 involved IPC sections added along with the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, while 91 involved only the SC/ST Act.

Out of 276 criminal intimidation cases under Section 506 of the IPC along with the SC/ST Act, 172 were declared false, amounting to 62.3 per cent. Nearly 70 of 226 rape cases (Section 376 of the IPC) clubbed with the SC/ST Act were declared false.

Despite the significant burden of such false cases, hardly any action is initiated by the Haryana Police under Section 182 of the IPC or Section 217 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (for giving false information to cause a public servant to use lawful power to another’s injury). “The process to invoke Section 182 of the IPC is cumbersome. That is why it is rarely used,” a senior police officer said.

Sibash Kabiraj, Commissioner of Police, Panchkula, and Director, SCRB, said, “We have a policy of free registration of complaints. During the investigation, many cases are found to be false and motivated, so they are declared false.” He added that several rape FIRs pertained to consensual relationships turning sour and some involved extortion, so such FIRs were declared false. “In cases under the SC/ST Act, sometimes complainants settle matters with the accused,” he said.

Social activist Savita Arya recently filed an RTI that revealed about 50 per cent of rape cases filed in Panipat in the first nine months of 2025 were false. “Several of them were related to live-in relationships turning sour. There were honey-trap cases too. The police should take action against women who file false rape cases,” she said.