The #MeToo campaign was started to provide a platform for people, especially women, who have been sexually harassed. It became a hub for lawyers who could provide counsel on how to deal with cases of sexual harassment. And it allowed people to name and shame sexual predators so that others wouldn’t fall into their trap.
However, there was a flip-side to it as well. Under the garb of the #MeToo campaign, many people came up with false accusations. And since most of them were anonymous, it was difficult to track down the person behind the posts. That said, the Powai police have done the impossible.
According to Mid-Day, a 25-year-old man was caught by the police for allegedly making sexual harassment allegations under the #MeToo campaign by pretending to be a woman.
The police said that in October last year, around 5-6 posts had surfaced on social media calling the CEO of an advertising company a sex pest. And all of them were from an anonymous account that was created to post against the CEO. That’s why the CEO saw no other option but to approach the court.
After approaching the court, he was requested to file an FIR so that the police could investigate who was behind those incendiary posts. An officer said,
“We registered an FIR on March 16 and traced the accused with digital evidence against him. The accused told the cops that a woman friend who had worked for some time at the advertising company had told him about the alleged sexual harassment by the CEO.”
They also said that,
“We are still probing whether the woman friend knew about the posts.”
The police reported that three CEOs of the company had been sidelined after the accusations.
As seen previously, in cases of false sexual harassment allegations, the court usually asks the police to book the accused under charges of furnishing false evidence. And the punishment for that, under Section 193 of the Indian Penal Code, could be imprisonment for 3-7 years, along with a hefty fine.