Kerala High Court Quashes POCSO Case Filed by Wife Against Husband
The Kerala High Court has ruled that provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act should not be misused for personal disputes. The court quashed a case filed by a wife against her husband, where she alleged that he had sexually abused her when she was a minor.
Justice A. Badharudeen observed that the law is sometimes misused by individuals to take revenge or settle personal scores. The court emphasized that false and baseless cases must be dismissed at the earliest stage by exercising powers under Section 482 of the CrPC or Section 528 of the BNSS.
According to the case details, the couple had been in a relationship since 2015. They later married legally in 2017. The wife claimed that the husband forced her into sexual relations while she was still a minor, thus committing offences under the IPC and POCSO Act.
However, the husband argued that no such incident took place before marriage. His counsel pointed out that the wife initially filed only a maintenance case and did not make any allegations of sexual assault at that time. The false case was allegedly filed later due to marital disputes, showing misuse of the POCSO Act.
The Court noted that the FIR was filed in 2020, five years after the alleged incident, with no valid explanation for the delay. Since the parties had already been married since 2017, the allegations were found to be unsustainable.
The Kerala High Court, therefore, quashed the final report and all related proceedings against the petitioner.
Case Number: CRL.MC NO. 1401 OF 2021
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