Female student sentenced to one month compulsory imprisonment over false complaint

By Dinesh Upendra

A 22-year-old female student following a degree course at a private university was sentenced to one month compulsory imprisonment by Kuliyapitiya Magistrate Randika Lakmal Jayalath for making a false complaint that she was raped by an individual that led to legal action against the individual concerned.

During the case proceedings, it transpired that the suspect taken into custody on her complaint had been in remand custody for 14 days. 

Police had charged her for making a false complaint and thereby misusing the authority of state officers to aggrieve an individual. 

Police told court that she had made a complaint to SI Dhanajani Basnayake and WPC 11963 Sugandhika of the Women and Children’s Bureau of the Kuliyapitiya Police on April 24, 2024, that she was raped by an individual. This resulted in the arrest of the suspect, who was remanded when produced before court. 

However, further investigations and a pending court case revealed that she had made a false complaint against an individual who had been her lover. During investigations, it transpired that she had been in love with the suspect, and when her parents had come to know of this she had told them that he had raped and that she was not in love with him.

IP Thejani Weerasekara of the Women and Children’s Bureau, Kuliyapitiya Division, submitted that the statements made by the accused student against the aggrieved party were false and that it was a punishable offense under Section 180 of the Penal Code.

The magistrate, who upheld the submissions of the police, sentenced the accused to one month imprisonment.