Woman gets 7-year jail for framing husband, in-laws in false gangrape case

A Rohtak court on Thursday sentenced a woman to seven years' jail for framing eight members of her family including her husband in a false gangrape case.

Read: Nirbhaya gang rape verdict: Bilkis Bano wants justice, demands death penalty for her rapists too

Judge Ritu YK Behl also imposed a fine of Rs. 10,000 on the woman after she was found guilty under Sections 195 (giving false evidence to procure conviction of offence punishable for life imprisonment) and 211 (false charge of offence with intent to injure) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

The 28- year-old woman, Meenakshi, had filed a complaint in June 2010 alleging she was gangraped by a Rohtak resident and his two brothers who gave her a lift in the car.

Meenakshi had also claimed that she was forcibly married to her rapist and was repeatedly raped by him and his brothers. But after going through the statements of 17 witnesses, the court acquitted the accused of all charges.

The court issued Meenakshi a show cause notice after finding holes in her deposition and directed a complaint be made against her through the court reader following an unsatisfactory response from her part. The court also found her guilty of deliberately giving false evidence.

Meanwhile, the public prosecutor said the woman's action called for a harsher punishment citing a rise in such cases of late, where spouses frame husbands for financial gain. But the court settled on a seven-years term as she was young and a first time offender.