SC orders safeguards against Pocso Act misuse in marital disputes

…it came across a case from Bengaluru where a mother filed a case under the Pocso Act against her husband after she lost a bitter and prolonged custody battle. A bench of justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan said, “ We are observing an alarming trend that is on the rise where one parent misuses the legal provisions to gain strategic legal advantage. ” Besides the incalculable harm caused to the child victim, the court said, “The only objective is to tie up the accused spouse and their family members in knots with the foisted criminal case and ensure that they are…

…the child experts will not bind the police in arriving at any decision and will not be the sole basis for filing the chargesheet or closure report, as the case may be. Justice Viswanathan, writing for the bench, said, “ What is alarming is that this tendency of making false accusations is on the rise. Instances are not infrequent where gullible parties are misguided by their advisors, including in some cases by recalcitrant legal professionals, who in their pursuit of the motto of ‘win at any cost’, end up fuelling the fire. ” Terming it as a “growing menace”, the court said it has been seen in some cases that such provisions are invoked as a “pressure tactic” or used simply to settle scores or seek revenge. In the case before the court,…