In a stern decision, a Special SC/ST Court in Lucknow sentenced a lawyer life imprisonment on Tuesday (19th August) after he was convicted of filing false rape cases under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. The advocate named Parmanand Gupta used a Dalit woman working under his wife to file large number of fake rape cases against various men. The scam was exposed after the Dalit woman revealed everything after becoming approver in a case.
In a strongly worded verdict, Special Judge (SC/ST Act) Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi condemned the actions of Advocate Parmanand Gupta, who misused the law for personal gain, and convicted him under the provisions of the BNS and the SC/ST Act. Gupta pressured and used the Dalit woman to falsely implicate several persons whom he intended to extort money from or had personal enmity with. Grossly misusing the law, Gupta, with the help of the Dalit woman named Pooja Rawat, who used to work at a salon run by Gupta’s wife in Lucknow, filed several false cases in different courts against various persons.
Parmanand Gupta is a wolf in sheep’s clothing: Court
“…Parmanand Gupta is a criminal in the guise of an advocate. He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, who disgraced the respectable profession of an advocate,” the court harshly remarked in its judgment.
The court noted that Parmanand Gupta made Pooja Rawat file false criminal cases involving serious offences like rape against innocent individuals, who had to face loss of reputation as well as immense hardships in defending themselves. The court added that Gupta should be given exemplary punishment, considering that the provisions invoked by him in his false cases were punishable with life imprisonment and fine, to harass his victims.
Rising cases of misuse of the SC/ST Act
Expressing concern over the rising cases of misuse the laws relating to rale and of the SC/ST Act, the court said that women, in collusion with unethical advocates, have been filing fake rape cases under the SC/ST to obtain for monetary gains.
The court quoted a 2024 judgment of the Allahabad High Court, in which the High Court directed that if cases filed under the SC/ST Act are found to be false, and filed “purely for financial gains”, then legal proceedings should be initiated against responsible persons.
How Parmanand Gupta and Pooja Rawat implicated people in false cases
Parmanand Gupta and Pooja Rawat filed dozens of criminal cases against various people. Since Rawat belonged to a backwards community, Gupta used her to invoke the stringent SC/ST Act against his rivals. Led by his greed, Gupta filed fake cases under the SC/ST Act using Pooja Rawat to obtain the compensation money. He promised her to split the compensation amount, but did not give her any money after receiving the compensation in her name.
A total of 12 such cases were filed by Pooja Rawat through Parmanand Gupta, in which she levelled serious allegations, including rape, against the accused persons, and invoked the SC/ST Act. During the trial of one of the cases, it was revealed that she was not even present at the alleged crime scene and had never even met the accused persons. Apart from this, Parmanand Gupta himself filed around 18 cases against various persons, a fact which was taken into consideration by the court.
The latest and 12th case filed by her stemmed from a property dispute between Gupta and his neighbours, Arvind Yadav and Awadhesh Yadav, residents of Vibhuti Khand in Gomti Nagar, Lucknow. Gupta made Pooja to lodge fake FIRs of rape, sexual harassment, and offences under the SC/ST Act against his neighbours. However, during the investigation, the allegations made by Pooja were found to be false and fabricated.
Consequently, criminal proceedings were initiated against Parmanand Gupta and Pooja Rawat for falsely implicating people in criminal cases. The advocate representing the state also told the court that she has filed 11 similar cases against various persons.
However, during the trial, co-accused Pooja Rawat turned approver and testified against Gupta. She informed the court that Gupta pressured her to make false statements, which she repeated before the magistrate under coercion. She was granted a conditional pardon for cooperating with the court. After the trial, the court acquitted Rawat with a warning not to file false cases in future.
Allahabad HC orders CBI inquiry after noting a pattern of false cases
The matter came to light after some of the people falsely implicated by Gupta and Pooja Rawat approached the Allahabad High Court seeking the quashing of FIRs filed against them. The petitioner apprised the High Court that Parmanand Gupta and Pooja Rawat had been filing false complaints against various persons. They pointed out the fact that Pooja Rawat filed all these cases through the same lawyer, i.e. Parmanand Gupta. Taking serious note of the information provided by the petitioners, the High Court ordered a CBI inquiry into the matter.
“It is also apparent that the informant and her counsel are in collusion with each other and have lodged false FIRs against a large number of people for serious offences only to extract money from them. The present FIR is also such an FIR lodged to create pressure,” the High Court said in its order dated March 5, 2025.
Contempt proceedings were also initiated against the lawyer
In 2023, the Allahabad High Court initiated contempt proceedings against Parmanand Gupta after observing that he tricked and misled the court and concealed material facts on several occasions to obtain favourable orders. The High Court remarked that Gupta “grossly misconducted himself against the Bar Council Rules, professional ethics” and found him guilty of “playing fraud with the Court and interfering in the course of justice by misleading the Court”. “He has made efforts to pollute the stream of justice by his highly unprofessional conduct,” the High Court said ordering suo motu criminal proceedings against Gupta.
Court granted life imprisonment to Gupta
The Court imposed a hefty fine and granted him separate jail terms under the provisions of the BNS and the SC, ST Act. He was granted one year’s simple imprisonment and a fine of ₹ 10,000 under Sections 217/49 of the BNS. The court granted him 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment along with a ₹2 lakh fine under Sections 248/49 of the BNS. Additionally, the court granted him life imprisonment along with a fine of ₹5 lakh under Section 3(2) of the SC, ST Act. The court ordered the sentences to run separately and include the time already spent by him in prison.