The Allahabad High Court on Thursday (November 6, 2025) ordered three Dalit women to return the ₹4.5 million compensation they collectively received from the Uttar Pradesh government after they retracted their statements recorded before a judge.
The Allahabad High Court on Thursday (November 6, 2025) ordered three Dalit women to return the ₹4.5 million compensation they collectively received from the Uttar Pradesh government after they retracted their statements recorded before a judge.
The Shekhar Kumar Yadav court also imposed a fine of ₹5,000 on 19 men accused of assaulting women for manipulating the victims.
The case relates to a complaint lodged by a woman and her two daughters-in-law against 19 upper caste men for trespassing, assault, intimidation and offenses under the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act at Yamunapar police station in Prayagraj district in July last year.
The case is currently pending before the local court that has summoned the accused persons. The accused later turned to the KS with a request to cancel the statement and summon the court of first instance.
During a hearing earlier this month, the complainant told the court that she had never made any complaint to the police and claimed that her thumbprints were taken on blank paper.
However, the lawyer representing the state said that the medical reports and statements of the complainant and her dreams were recorded before the court in which they clearly supported the prosecution. The court was also informed that each woman received a compensation of ₹1.5 million from the government.
“The court finds it deeply disturbing that the complainant now denies that she filed the FIR despite having made statements under Section 164 of the Penal Code which corroborate the allegations and availed of substantial financial compensation under the statutory scheme meant for genuine victims of atrocities,” the court said, ordering the women to return the compensation.
Justice Yadav observed that the conduct of the women prima facie reflected “serious abuse of the process of justice” and “gross abuse of the benevolent provisions of the SC/ST Act”.
Concluding the sequence of events as a “deliberate attempt to manipulate the process of criminal justice after misappropriation of public funds thereby committing a fraud on the State”, the court also imposed costs of ₹5 million on the petitioners to prevent a repeat of such manipulative conduct.
Published – November 6, 2025 11:55 PM IST
