Is Sextortion Racket in India Another Endorsement of Women' Financial Empowerment?

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Deepika Bhardwaj Unravels The 'Ayushi Bhatia Serial False Rape Case'

On Wednesday, December 29, the Gurugram Police busted a ‘honey trapping’ racket and arrested a 22-year-old woman named Ayushi Bhatia who has been accused of filing eight fake rape cases against eight men in the last year. The Gurugram police confirmed that the woman, reportedly a student of BA (Hons) in Atma Ram College, Delhi, confessed to committing the crime. She was produced in a city court on Wednesday and sent to judicial custody later. 

The accused is heard saying in the audio clip shared by the journalist that she has five ongoing cases in court where she has implicated five boys who had established physical relationships with her. “In my complaint, I stated unequivocally that the boy made promises, developed relationships, and then abandoned me. Because some boys take advantage of girls and then abandon them. Whatever you want to call it, this is my work. I file a complaint against such men and send them to jail. The family members of the boy persuaded me to take back the cases, but I did not yield to their requests. Got every bail granted to him cancelled. Later the High Court granted him bail.

According to media reports, a mother from Karnal filed a complaint against Ayushi Bhatia at New Colony Police Station on Tuesday, December 28, alleging that her son was being charged in a fake sexual assault case. Her son was seeking a place to rent in the Vijay Park neighbourhood. He stumbled upon a sign advertising a vacant ‘To-let’ and dialled the number on the sign. He moved there on October 15, but the woman began contacting the boy regularly after a few days. When the boy objected, Bhatia told him that if he didn’t marry her or give her money, she would accuse him of assault.

From NDTV

The Recurring Pattern 

The Logical Indian spoke to journalist Deepika Narayan Bhardwaj, who brought the matter to light. Bhardwaj detailed how Bhatia ran the honey trapping racket. The woman met people on dating apps, at parties, gyms, clubs, and social media platforms; then cross-checked their background, friend list, and the people they were following. She would then meet them up in person, have consensual sexual intercourse, and later convict them of assaulting her until they adhered to her terms and conditions. The woman has filed subsequent FIRs against seven men on record. TLI accessed a short audio clip of Bhatia.

A Sufferer's Ordeal 

Mahesh had approached Bhardwaj in October on Twitter to seek her help. The man explained he had multiple suicidal thoughts triggered by false accusations of incest. The 24-year-old met Ayushi Bhatia on a dating app, 'Happen', on August 21 and connected instantly. Four days later, Bhatia started blackmailing Mahesh by roping him into a false rape case. The latter went to the police station to file a complaint, but he was asked to approach the cybercrime cell of his jurisdiction and file a written complaint, as the crime was associated with an online dating application. By the time Mahesh could think of some other way, Bhatia started threatening him of filing a gang rape case against him and his friends, whom she had found on his friend's list if he did not marry her. To save himself and his friends, he eventually abided by her. Within ten days of marriage, Bhatia started fighting with him and held him back from leading a normal life. A few days later, Mahesh ran away, following which, the woman tried to file a rape case against him, following which he was called to the police station. He said the officers laughed at him for marrying Bhatia. The police revealed that the woman had filed at least five to six sexual assault cases with them, which shook Mahesh, as he was naive of Bhatia's pattern. The cops gave him the numbers of all the FIRs filed in the previous cases. Bhatia had charged people under section 375 (sexual intercourse with a woman without her consent, by coercion or fraud or at a time when she has been intoxicated or duped) and 376 (sexual assault) of IPC.

In a shocking instance of its kind, it has come to light that as many as seven FIRs were registered by Haryana Police under sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) relating to rape and outraging a woman’s modesty etc against different men at the instance of a 20-year-old Gurugram-based woman over the last few months.

Besides this, as per sources, she has demanded and received lakhs of rupees from an as-yet-undetermined number of men who were ‘honey-trapped’ by her and put in fear of such police cases.

The FIRs in question, registered at various police stations in Gurugram Police Commissionerate, include FIR no. 312/2020 lodged at Police Station (PS) Rajendra Park under IPC Sections 376 (Rape) and 506 (Criminal Intimidation); no. 662/2020 at PS Gurgaon Sadar under Sections 376 (2)(n), 506 and 323 (Voluntarily causing hurt); no. 418/2021 at PS Sector 10 under Sections 376 and 439; no. 156/2021 at PS New Colony under Section 376; no. 74/2021 at PS Sector 15 under Sections 376, 354A, 323 and 341 (Wrongful restraint); no. 17/2021 at PS Cyber under Section 509 (Insulting woman’s modesty) and Sections 66E and 67 of IT Act; and no. 269/2021 at PS DLF Phase 3 under Sections 376, 354 (Outraging modesty), 323 and 34 (Common intention).

Ayushi Bhatia engaged in a blackmail and extortion racket, taking money from men by ‘settling’ cases outside police stations while lodging FIRs against multiple men.

The Commission on October 22, 2021, wrote to the Commissioner of Police, Gurugram to furnish details of the FIRs and a report of an enquiry conducted by the police. On October 26, 2021, the officiating chairperson of the Commission, Preeti Bhardwaj Dalal, wrote to the Director General of Police, Haryana to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the matter.

“We presume this case has the linings of criminal activities which may be similar to sexpinage, extortion, femme fatale-honey trapping. This is a serious matter and requires urgent action and attention from your department,” she wrote.

Speaking to National Herald, Bhardwaj said that she came to know of the matter when a young man sought help from her. “The woman forced this man to marry her by threatening him that she’ll file a fake rape complaint against him. When I delved into the matter, the sordid details tumbled out. It became clear that she was running a well-organised racket of targeting men who were members of a gym or through dating apps etc. She is totally fearless and is conversant with nuances of criminal laws,” she said.

“She typically alleges that the man raped her on the pretext of marriage. I personally know of a man who paid her Rs 3.5 lakhs out of fear. How many others are there is unknown as of now. Only a thorough probe by the police can unravel all the details. It seems to be the proverbial tip of the iceberg,” she added.

Reached for her comments regarding the status of the formation of an SIT, Dalal said, “It has not been formed yet but we are following up on the matter. I have met Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij and he has assured me that the needful will be done.”

“Such misuse of laws by a woman is a serious issue. They are meant to help and protect women. Levelling of false rape allegations destroys the standing of the accused in society,” she added.

Delhi-based criminal lawyer Nishant Kumar Srivastava said “In fact, one can hear many stories in the corridors of court complexes around the country about well-organised and well-greased syndicate of such people including women, men and police officials who trap innocent males with a woman getting friendly and intimate with them. They later threaten to file false FIRs against them and extort money from the hapless male who faces loss of reputation and ruined family life – divorce by wife and hatred by children and relatives and friends – and above all his name being made public in the media overnight. Many of them end up ‘settling’ the matter in the police station itself after exchange of money,”

Asked about the legal consequences for such a woman filing false FIRs, Srivastava said, “The law is clear as to the legal consequences of setting the criminal action in motion maliciously and on false grounds. Section 211 (False charge of offence made with intent to injure) of the IPC deals with it and provides for a punishment of imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to seven years, and also fine.”

This is not the first time that such ‘sextortion rackets’ have come to light. Just last month, Ghaziabad police arrested five members of a gang that allegedly extorted a whopping Rs 22 crore by targeting around 200 businessmen and senior executives after blackmailing them with images and videos of sex chats.

Spearheading the gang was a couple who had hired three women for a monthly 'salary' of Rs 25,000 and a share of the money they made.

As per media reports, the gang would open accounts on various social media platforms and send friend requests to men. After a few days of casual chats, they would share their WhatsApp numbers with the targets and ask them to make video calls. When they did, the accused would persuade them to strip. Screenshots and videos of the sex chats would be made and later used to blackmail the victims. Most of the victims coughed up the money and did not approach the police, fearing social stigma.

In another case, the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police last month arrested a 24-year-old man from Rajasthan who ran a ‘sextortion’ racket for a period of over one and a half years, extorting over Rs 30 lakh from over 300 male and female victims across the country.

The police said the accused, who studied just till class 10, targeted the victims through Facebook and WhatsApp, running the racket with assistance from three relatives and called it their “family business”. Their modus operandi was to blackmail people using their morphed photos in lewd images and videos