Pocso Act being misused against rivals with ulterior motives, observes Kerala HC

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has observed that provisions of the Pocso Act were being misused by some people to wreak vengeance against their rivals with ulterior motives and stressed the need for courts to “segregate the grains from the chaff” to ascertain whether the allegations make out a prima facie case.

A bench of Justice A. Badharudeen pointed out that courts should exercise their powers to quash false and frivolous litigations filed with ulterior motives.

“It is discernible that the Pocso Act has been enacted by the legislature to protect children from sexual abuse of any mode with exhaustive penal provisions of a very stringent nature. But nowadays, the provisions of the Pocso Act are being misused by certain groups of persons to wreak vengeance and also to make a strong case against their rivals, so as to obtain ulterior motives therefrom. When the facts of the case are scanned, if the same reveals that the allegations are levelled with ulterior motives and the same are not digestible to prudence, the courts shall exercise their power under Section 482 of CrPC or under Section 528 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 to quash the false and frivolous litigations at the threshold,” it said.

Incidentally, the Court made these points while looking into a case where the husband has been accused by his wife of committing penetrative sexual assault upon her, when she was a minor before their marriage.

The two were in love and this had taken place for around two years prior to their getting married in 2017.

The court noted that there was no sufficient explanation for the delay in filing the FIR alleging sexual molestation that allegedly took place in 2015.

“Here, the wife of the petitioner is the defacto complainant and she lodged the complaint after three years and one month regarding coitus between them in the years 2015 and 2016 when the marital relationship estranged and they become rivals. Prima facie, it appears that the entire allegations are raised with ulterior motives by the wife against the husband by misusing the provisions of the Pocso Act and the penal provisions of IPC at a much-belated stage after the marriage was solemnised,” it added and found that the allegations against the petitioner were prima facie unsustainable.

It thus quashed the final report and all proceedings against the petitioner.

IANS