The bizarre incident

An interesting column from a lawyer in Mumbai about a recent case that made the news in India. Here's a snippet:

In a sworn affidavit, she had alleged that it was a false case, and that her mother, who was estranged from her father, had instigated her to file this false complaint.

The media was quick in indicting the mother. Overnight, she had been transformed from a helpless victim of domestic abuse to a manipulator, the culprit of the entire piece. The concern that was highlighted was that the law does not prescribe a stringent punishment for such a woman. One paper carried a headline, "Wife may get away lightly."

Rather curiously, while the indictment of the mother was quick and scathing, there was hardly any introspection as to where and how this affidavit was made, and what were the circumstances that led to the filing of it at such a late stage, and why such an affidavit could not be procured at the stage of the hearing of the case in the Supreme Court. Why did the girl have a sudden change of heart?

Read Rape and retraction .