Lucknow's special court awards life imprisonment to lawyer who got more than 30 false cases of SC/ST and rape registered
Lucknow- If there is a mastermind for those who misuse the law, it is lawyer Parmanand Gupta! He ran a series of false cases as easily as if someone is getting medicine by getting a prescription in a hospital OPD. We are not saying this, but a Lucknow court has mentioned this in its 94-page order. In a historic verdict, the special court for SC/ST Act cases has sentenced lawyer Parmanand Gupta to life imprisonment, who had registered a fake gangrape and SC/ST atrocities case against two innocent brothers, Arvind Yadav and Awadhesh Yadav.
In the trial, it was proved that Gupta got 11 false cases of gang rape and SC/ST Act registered against a 21-year-old Dalit student, Pooja Rawat, who had come to Lucknow to study, by using her caste and documents as a weapon, while Gupta himself filed 18 cases as a lawyer. To meet the expenses of her studies, Pooja came to work in Gupta’s wife Sangeeta’s beauty parlor, and Gupta obtained her identity documents in the name of getting them corrected and later lured her with money and made her join the scheme. All the false cases were filed by Gupta to gain financial benefits and settle personal scores. This shocking scheme was exposed and now the court has sentenced this sick minded lawyer to life imprisonment.
This case arose from a property dispute related to Gupta’s wife Sangeeta Gupta, which shows that vulnerable women of Scheduled Castes are being used as weapons in false complaints to extort money and harass rivals. Gupta appeared as Pooja Rawat’s lawyer and instigated her to file a false FIR.
On August 19, 2025, Special Judge Vivekanand Sharan Tripathi sentenced advocate Parmanand Gupta to life imprisonment after finding him guilty under several sections of the Indian Penal Code (BNS) and the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The special public prosecutor requested the court to consider a total of 29 cases as Parmanand Gupta’s criminal history and said that no advocate gets so many cases registered in his personal name. “Convicted Parmanand Gupta used to get cases registered himself against SC/ST persons against whom SC/ST cases could not be registered or against non-SC persons in respect of whom he thought that his work would be done by merely threatening with a small case, as if he was running the OPD of a hospital. Where there was a serious case, in which a lot of property was involved and where simple threats to the opponent did not work, he used Pooja Rawat to get the cases registered by threatening with SC/ST rape and gang rape cases. It was similar to when a person cannot be treated in the OPD, then he should be sent to the ICU for serious treatment.” The court explained in its order that Gupta misused his professional position and used Pooja Rawat, a 21-year-old SC student from Gorakhpur, who had come to Lucknow for studies, as a weapon for his revenge. Puja, who worked as an assistant at Sangeeta Gupta’s beauty parlour, was lured into the scheme by Gupta by taking her Aadhaar card, caste certificate and other documents on the pretext of correction. They then used these to file false complaints, including this case, where Puja alleged that the Yadav brothers gangraped her at a house in Vibhuti Khand, Lucknow on July 24, 2024. The FIR, filed under crime number 40/2025, registered offences under sections 64, 74, 115(2), 316(2), 324(4), 333, 351(3), 352 BNS, 66D IT Act, and 3(2)(5) SC/ST Act, claiming that pornographic videos were made and threats were issued.
An investigation by Assistant Superintendent of Police Radha Raman Singh revealed that the entire story was fabricated. Location data retrieved from mobile CDRs and call records revealed that Puja was nowhere near the alleged crime scene, an under-construction house owned by the Yadavs, in the period from March 1 to July 24, 2024. Medical examination revealed no signs of assault, and Puja refused an internal examination, later admitting to being under pressure from Gupta. Local witnesses confirmed that Puja was never seen as a tenant, and the property was in the possession of the Yadavs for years, where construction was underway. The investigation also revealed that Gupta’s wife had a civil suit (Case No. 747/2024) pending on Khasra No. 351L, which was adjacent to the Yadavs’ Khasra No. 76, and that the false rape allegation was a pressure ploy to settle the land dispute.
Puja exposes Gupta’s criminal conspiracy
The turning point in the case came when Puja Rawat, on realising her mistake, applied to become a witness under Sections 343 and 344 BNS on August 4, 2025. Pardon was granted on the condition that she state the truth, and Puja revealed in court that Gupta and his wife took advantage of her weakness. She said Gupta used her Scheduled Caste status to file several false complaints against his enemies, promising her a share of compensation from the government’s SC/ST relief schemes. Puja said in her chief testimony, “Parmanand Gupta, advocate, took my Aadhaar card, photo, income certificate, caste certificate, residence proof and PAN card on the pretext of correction. Using these, he registered a case in my name without my knowledge.” She said Gupta prepared her statements for the magistrate and the police, under which she had to claim gang rape.
Puja’s cross-examination further exposed the conspiracy. She admitted that after the FIR, she received an interim relief of Rs 75,000 from the government, but Gupta kept all the money. “He said if I give a statement as per his instructions, I will get the money, but he kept everything,” she said. An attempt to intimidate the court by Gupta through video conferencing, in which he demanded to change Puja’s lawyer, was rejected to prevent molestation.
The court referred to Puja’s crucial testimony: “I am a BA second year student and came to Lucknow for studies. To fund my studies I worked privately. That’s how I joined Sangeeta Gupta’s beauty parlour, where I assisted. Her husband Parmanand Gupta used my documents to file this case. There was no incident of molestation or rape with me on or before or after July 24, 2024. The statement I gave to the magistrate was at the behest of Parmanand; I had to say so under pressure. I now want to tell the truth to the court so that no innocent suffers.” The Lucknow court, exercising its powers under Section 15A(7) SC/ST Act, directed the district magistrate to stop recovery of any relief granted to Puja and compensation in future false cases until a prima facie case is established.
Court’s scathing observation: Misuse of protective laws
The court strongly criticised the misuse of laws meant to protect marginalised communities and women. Justice Tripathi said that though the rape provisions of the SC/ST Act and BNS are important for speedy justice to victims, using them for personal vendetta undermines public confidence in the judiciary. “This case is a contemporary example of how some people with criminal tendencies hidden in the lawyer community are tarnishing its reputation,” said the judgment, which quoted: “The lawyer community, which idolises the leaders of the freedom struggle and legal personalities, is being harmed by the criminal tendencies of some members.”
The court emphasised the social impact, saying false cases not only harass the accused but also undermine genuine complaints. “False rape FIRs cause as much suffering, humiliation and harm to the accused as to the actual rape victim,” it said, citing Raju v State of Madhya Pradesh (2009 SCC). The judgment also referred to the Allahabad High Court’s order in Fogri v State of UP (2024), directing the police to take action against false SC/ST complaints under Section 217 BNS, saying: “This Act, which is meant to provide immediate relief to victims of atrocities, is being misused for compensation. There is a need for strict verification before FIRs, and penalizing false complainants so that misuse is prevented.”
The court lamented the deterioration of professional ethics among some lawyers, saying: “The profession of advocacy is honourable and integral to the administration of justice. The bar and the bench are the two eyes of justice. But if lawyers abuse the processes like Gupta did, it pollutes the course of justice.” It directed the Uttar Pradesh Bar Council to bar Gupta from practising and sent the order for disciplinary action.
Gupta’s pattern of abuse: multiple false cases and high court probe
The evidence presented showed that Gupta’s pattern was not limited to this case. Puja testified that Gupta had filed over 30 false complaints in her name, including against Vipin Yadav (FIR No. 197/2023), where he later admitted that no incident took place. The Allahabad High Court ordered a CBI probe into 11 cases filed by Gupta through Puja in Criminal Miscellaneous Writ Petition No. 1793/2025 (decided on March 5, 2025), stating: “The complainants and their lawyers are in collusion… to lodge false FIRs for serious offences only to extort money.” The court listed 18 more cases filed by Gupta in his own name, terming him “addicted to frivolous complaints.”
Gupta’s history included contempt proceedings for filing second bail petitions as first ones to mislead the high court. In State vs. Mohammad Rizwan (February 9, 2023), the court initiated contempt against him for fraud: “Shri Parmanand Gupta has prima facie committed contempt by concealing material facts and misleading the court.” Despite this, Gupta continued his antics, even committing criminal contempt by misbehaving during a hearing in the Barabanki court on March 10, 2025.
The Lucknow court, exercising its powers under Section 15A(7) SC/ST Act, directed the district magistrate to stop recovery of any relief granted to Pooja and compensation in future false cases until a prima facie case is established. It also ordered the police to note earlier complaints in new FIRs containing the same allegations, so as to curb serial filers.
Geetha Sunil Pillai
Courtesy : Hindi News