The Kerala High Court has observed that provisions of the POCSO Act were being misused by certain persons to wreak vengeance against their rivals with ulterior motives.

 Justice A. Badharudeen observed that the Court shall exercise its powers to quash false and frivolous litigations filed with ulterior motives at the threshold by exercising its jurisdiction under Section 482 of CrPC or Section 528 of the BNSS.

It was alleged that the petitioner and the complainant got legally married in 2017, but they had been in a love relationship since 2015 when the complainant was still a minor. It was alleged that the petitioner subjected the complainant to repeated sexual intercourse when she was a minor and committed offences under the IPC and POCSO Act. 

The Counsel for the petitioner submitted that the complainant and petitioner got legally married in 2017 and there was no sexual intercourse before marriage, as alleged. It was further stated that the complainant initially filed a case for denial of maintenance before the police station and there were no allegations of sexual molestation during the juvenility. It was argued that the complainant filed the false case following a difference of opinion in their marriage, with an intent to wreak vengeance against the petitioner by misusing the provisions of the POCSO Act.

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. It noted that the FIR was registered only in 2020, whereas the parties got legally married in 2017.

As such, the Court found that the allegations against the petitioner were prima facie unsustainable. It thus quashed the final report and all proceedings against the petitioner.

Case Number: CRL.MC NO. 1401 OF 2021