How a Retired Army Officer Fought to Prove his Innocence Against a False Rape Case

By Aakriti Dhawan

New Delhi: On December 29, 2021, a 39-year-old woman filed a First Information Report (FIR) at Delhi’s Mehrauli Police Station against Captain Rakesh Walia (Retired), an Indian Army veteran and entrepreneur. The complaint invoked multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including rape (Section 376), unnatural offences (Section 377), causing harm by administering a substance (Section 328), and criminal intimidation (Section 506).

The alleged incident took place in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, but the FIR was registered in Delhi. According to Walia, the complainant claimed he had given her a cold drink mixed with sedatives and sexually assaulted her. A charge sheet was filed in July 2022, though Walia was not arrested during the investigation.

Over the course of three years, Walia collected evidence and attempted to trace what he describes as a larger ‘racket’. In February 2025, the Supreme Court of India quashed the FIR. 

Walia stated that the three-year process impacted his health, finances, and reputation. “My focus was not just on clearing my name,” Walia told 101Reporters. “It was about demonstrating how the legal process can be used, and the difficulties in addressing reputational harm.”

A case is filed

The events leading to the FIR against Walia began in 2020 when he met the complainant at a book launch in Delhi. Walia claimed that the woman offered help to translate/promote his recently published book. They remained in intermittent contact through social media. On December 29, 2021, they agreed to meet in person. Walia stated he felt uneasy during their meeting and ended it by dropping the woman near a police station at Botanical Garden Metro Station in Noida.

Later that night, Walia received calls from the Mehrauli Police Station, asking him to appear for questioning. By the next day, an FIR had been registered, despite earlier attempts to file similar complaints reportedly being declined by two other police stations in Noida Sector 37 and Ghitorni.

According to Walia and observations noted in the charge sheet, several standard procedures in sexual assault investigations were not followed. The complainant did not undergo a medical examination, submit clothing as evidence, or allow examination of call records and phone location data. Despite these typically routine steps being absent, the FIR was registered.

Additionally, mandatory approval by an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) for registering a rape FIR was reportedly granted within just 13 minutes around 11 PM, Walia said.

“When the police asked me for information or evidence, I cooperated fully,” Walia added. “I provided medical samples, call records, everything. The charge sheet itself mentions that the complainant did not participate in the investigation.”

Procedural lapses in the face of glaring inconsistencies

Walia stated that the statement in the chargesheet was inconsistent with the available evidence. 

The FIR alleged Walia lured the complainant, used force, and offered a cold drink laced with sedatives. Walia contested this timeline, and said, “She claimed I picked her up around 3:30 PM, gave her a drink at 3:50, and by 4:10 she was unconscious. Then, within minutes, there was a claim of multiple acts occurring in a moving car or while driving around. It just doesn’t add up.”

He added: From the time she left the car to when she filed the FIR, barely 13-15 minutes had passed. How does a drug work so quickly and wear off just as fast?”

He added: “Her own statement in the charge sheet notes there were no injuries, no torn clothing, no physical resistance. There was no forensic or medical evidence submitted either.” Walia said that the investigation proceeded without addressing these discrepancies.

And, on March 23, 2022, a no-arrest charge sheet was filed in the case against Walia. 

Fight back against a scam

According to Walia, the complainant’s lawyer had sought money from him. He recorded phone conversations with the opposing counsel regarding alleged extortion demands. These recordings were submitted to the authorities, but Walia stated no action was taken. “How is he still practising? Who else has he victimised?” he questioned.

Walia said that after losing hope in the authorities, he began investigating his case independently. 

During the course of his probe in September 2022, he found another FIR filed by the same complainant against another person with nearly identical accusations. 

He traced at least eight other cases where the complainant had made similar allegations against men under the same IPC provisions. Walia reached out to some of these accused, who reportedly confirmed the allegations but were hesitant to speak publicly due to stigma and fear.

While the criminal trial progressed slowly in the lower court, Walia spent two years gathering documents and case stories. The weight of the material he collected was more than 30 kilograms, he said. 

Filmmaker and men’s rights advocate Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj, whom Walia found through social media, provided him support. “She gave me the confidence not to give up,” Walia said. “She also connected me to lawyers who could help.” 

Ultimately, on February 25, 2025, the Supreme Court quashed the FIR against Walia, terming it a “misuse of the process of law”. The bench, comprising Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and K Vinod Chandran, noted that the Delhi High Court had not acted in a timely manner and that Walia had experienced unnecessary delays.

The Supreme Court also acknowledged that the complainant had registered similar complaints against at least eight other individuals across multiple police stations in Delhi. The judgment stated: “We have been informed that after lodging the FIR, the complainant has not cooperated with the investigation and has not appeared before this court despite being served with notice.” 

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A great personal cost

By the time the Supreme Court cleared his name, the legal proceedings had already led to significant personal losses for Walia.

Around the time the FIR was registered, Walia had to step down from his position as Chief Administrative Officer at a private firm. Over the following months, legal fees, healthcare expenses for himself and his wife, and the cost of his investigation left him financially and emotionally drained.

“One day in 2023, after nearly two years of this ordeal, my wife collapsed from the stress,” Walia recalled. “She suffered a brain haemorrhage. She underwent two neurosurgeries. Today, she is in a vegetative state. She cannot speak, cannot move. This is what the system did to us.”

“It is no longer just about me,” Walia said. “It’s about fixing a system that allows lives to be affected without due process.”

Following the top court’s decision, Captain Walia turned his attention to broader systemic issues. In May 2025, he approached the Delhi High Court with a writ petition, seeking structural reforms in how repeat allegations of serious crimes are registered and reviewed. He also advocated for formal legal recognition of offences like “sextortion” and “honey-trapping,” which lack a formal definition under Indian law.

The petition was later withdrawn by Walia’s counsel, who stated they would pursue the issues through administrative channels instead. 

“Every time a law is misused like this, it makes it harder for genuine victims to be believed,” he said. “It weakens the entire justice system.”

Meanwhile, Walia has filed a counterclaim against the woman who accused him of rape. 

A complaint has been filed under sections pertaining to cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property (IPC Section 420), mischief (IPC Section 425), common intention (IPC Section 34), criminal conspiracy (IPC Section 120B), giving false evidence (IPC Section 191), fabricating false evidence (IPC Section 192), using evidence known to be false (IPC Section 196), false charge of offence made with intent to injure (IPC Section 211), wrongful confinement to extort (IPC Section 348), extortion (IPC Section 384), defamation (IPC Section 499), criminal intimidation (IPC Section 503) among others.

Walia’s lawyer, Advocate Devadipta Das, said: “An FIR has been registered against the complainant, though no arrest has taken place so far.” 

“What I want,” Walia said, “is not revenge. It is accountability. If I had died during this ordeal, by heart attack, or suicide, this story would have ended differently. And no one would have known the truth.”

This story was originally published as a part of Crime and Punishment project in collaboration with Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy.

This article was originally published in 101 Reporters under Creative Common license. Read the original article.

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