A spate of molestation and sexual assault cases have surfaced across India since the New Year's eve mass-molestation case in Bengaluru, leading to widespread condemnation of the attackers, but some of them have already turned out to be false. The police have confirmed that in at least two cases – one from Bengaluru itself and another from Mumbai – the supposed victim lodged false complaints with the police.
False complaint in Bengaluru
In the Bengaluru case, video footage had surfaced of a burqa-clad woman being apparently assaulted while walking towards a bus stop at 6:25 am on Friday, January 6. A complaint was lodged with the local KG Halli police station, while the "victim" was administered treatment for injuries to her tongue and hand.
However, the CCTV footage did not show her being molested; it showed she was followed by a limping man. As the police investigated the incident, they came across the 25-year-old woman's brother-in-law – her sister's husband of three years – who also had a limp. Detained and questioned, this man – whom a Deccan Herald report identifies as only Khan – confessed that he had set everything up.
Apparently he and his sister-in-law had been in love, and wanted to marry. However, her family did not want this. Therefore, he hatched a plan that would "tarnish" the girl's image and force her family to let him marry her.
False complaint in Mumbai
A day before the Bengaluru incident, a 28-year-old woman had lodged a police complaint saying she was assaulted and molested by unidentified individuals, and was even admitted to hospital with a cut on her neck – apparently sustained while she was waiting for her 22-year-old boyfriend.
The police questioned them thoroughly, and that's when their claims fell apart. It emerged that the woman – a divorcee with a five-year-old boy – had not been accepted by her boyfriend's family, and they had planned this "assault" to apparently gain his parents' sympathy.
