The Supreme Court has expressed concerns over a trend where false cases were being lodged against men by their estranged wives under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO Act), as an arm-twisting tactic in matrimonial disputes.
A Bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said that courts must be cautious of this growing trend.It made the observation while quashing a case filed against a man and his relatives, holding that the complaint appeared to be a tutored attempt to implicate them amid a long-running matrimonial case between a child's parents.
The Court warned that children are increasingly being drawn into matrimonial battles and used against fathers and paternal relatives through allegations that are vague, unsupported by evidence and aimed at settling personal scores.
“At the centre of this sort of litigation is a child who is often used by her mother against her father, against her will and wishes, so as to make false and vexatious complaints against her father and other male members of her paternal family in order to exact revenge or as an arm-twisting tactic to obtain a higher monetary settlement or to simply harass,” it said. It further said courts must examine such allegations carefully at the threshold, particularly where criminal proceedings arise out of long-standing matrimonial disputes marked by multiple rounds of litigation between the parties.
“The Courts have to be extremely careful before taking cognizance of complaints made while invoking the provisions of rape, especially in cases where parties have already been heavily embroiled in matrimonial litigation, since the scope of manipulation, fabrication and vexatious litigation is exponentially high due to pre-existing bad blood between the parties who are often emotionally charged against one another and allegations of rape becomes an aid towards arm twisting tactics” the Court noted.
It also cautioned lawyers against advising clients to initiate frivolous proceedings as a pressure tactic in matrimonial cases and urged them instead to help prevent the misuse of the criminal justice system."Vexatious litigation in the realm of matrimonial disputes based on frivolous and false allegations should be discouraged by the courts and the members of the bar. Advocates ought to advise their clients against the initiation of frivolous criminal proceedings against their spouses rather than encouraging them to do so," it said.
Vexatious litigation in the realm of matrimonial disputes based on frivolous, false allegations should be discouraged by courts and members of the barThe case arose from a complaint filed by a woman against her estranged husband, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law alleging that her minor daughter had been sexually assaulted by them.
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