Sexual harassment is very bad at any place, but it is worse for someone to falsely accuse someone of sexual harassment too. In one such case the woman who had wrongly accused a now retired senior officer of Northern Railways, has been ordered by a court to pay Rs 5 lakh to him "to console the hurt victim."

Judge Rajender Kumar Shastri held that the woman had defamed the officer during his tenure and directed the woman to pay compensation, saying "every man has his own status, however humble, and he has a right to guard his reputation".

The woman had alleged that she was sexually harassed in 1996, while working as secretary to the then chief personnel officer in Northern Railways. The Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) had ruled in her favor, but the Delhi High court in 2008 set aside the order, terming it "invalid". The man had filed a defamation suit against the woman seeking damages of Rs 10 lakh for the "emotional trauma" he underwent. He claimed that she had filed the complaint of sexual harassment after he had reprimanded her for not doing her work properly. He also said the prolonged litigation caused him humiliation among his peers.

The judge however showed leniency to the woman who had pleaded, "I agree that status of claimant in society is a factor to be considered by the court in awarding compensation but status and financial position of other party i.e. defendant (woman) also cannot be ignored. The objective of providing compensation is to console the victim and not to punish the defendant by imposing such a penalty which she cannot afford from her means.”

Subsequently, the judge asked her to pay Rs. 5 lakhs as compensation to the retired officer. Cases like this are always there and the law must be made stringent where the victim if proved must be dealt severely and the accuser if proved wrong with substantial evidence must equally be dealt with. One way it curtails the crime and the other curtails the misuse of the status.