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False Cases Of Rape, Sexual Predators In Slums: What Mumbai Sessions Court Rulings Reveal

Fewer Than Five Cases In Mumbai In 2015 Involved Sexual Assault By Strangers
An Indian protester with a slogan painted on his face participates in a demonstration to protest against police inaction after a six-year-old was allegedly raped in a school, in Bangalore, India, Sunday, July 20, 2014. More than a hundred protesters gathered Sunday and demanded that police arrest those involved in the July 2 incident, which was reported only this past week. The rape has raised questions about the safety of India's schoolchildren and sparked nationwide outrage over rampant sexual violence against girls and women. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
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An Indian protester with a slogan painted on his face participates in a demonstration to protest against police inaction after a six-year-old was allegedly raped in a school, in Bangalore, India, Sunday, July 20, 2014. More than a hundred protesters gathered Sunday and demanded that police arrest those involved in the July 2 incident, which was reported only this past week. The rape has raised questions about the safety of India's schoolchildren and sparked nationwide outrage over rampant sexual violence against girls and women. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Parents of young girls often file false complaints of rape and abduction against men if they disapprove of their relationship. An analysis of data collected from the Mumbai's sessions courts revealed this pattern, among others, in rape cases heard by the sessions courts in Mumbai.

The analysis, conducted by The Hindu, also found that men sexually exploited children in slums.

The Hindu reports: "One-quarter of all cases involved parents filing cases of kidnap and rape against young men whom their young daughters had eloped with; several of these were inter-caste and inter-religious couples, and many recounted parental opposition to their relationship. These 33 cases followed a similar pattern; following the registration of the FIR, in which the girl was described as a minor even though it would eventually be proved in court she was of age 18, or nearly 18, the couple would usually be retrieved from another part of the State or even another State by the police, and the boy would be arrested and the girl would be sent to a children’s shelter."

Writer Rukmini Srinivasan noted that prejudice against pre-marital sex is an orthodox society was one of the primary reasons behind furious parents lodging these cases. However, the data also showed that several of these cases may not have been rape technically but involved false promises of marriage. Some of the girls involved in these cases were pregnant at the time of their parents filing the complaints.

The research also found that fewer than five cases in all filed in Mumbai in 2015 involved an allegation of sexual crime committed by a stranger.

Read the complete The Hindu report here.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.