Prayagraj, 21 Aug: The Allahabad High Court directed the CBI to investigate allegations that a gang in Prayagraj has been filing bogus cases of rape and other crimes under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against “innocent” people and blackmailing them into paying to have the false complaints dropped. The group is suspected of filing false FIRs against high court and Prayagraj district court lawyers who represent the accused in court.
According to the HC, this is a significant abuse of the laws intended to safeguard the SC/ST communities. As many as 51 such doubtful cases were listed before the court on Thursday.
Hearing a plea submitted by an alleged rape victim, Justice Gautam Chowdhary directed that no arrests be made in such situations, either of the accused or of any other aggrieved party, until the CBI presents its preliminary inquiry report.
The ruling came in response to an argument by the accused’s attorney that fake and frivolous FIRs had been filed against innocent persons in order to extort money throughout the inquiry by promising them that the complaint would be withdrawn if they paid a particular amount. If the accused refuse to pay, the gang threatens their attorneys with dismissal or prosecution under the SC/ST statute.
Several Prayagraj district lawyers are said to have been victims of the gang. The court set the next hearing date on October 20.
