On Thursday (23rd November), the Delhi Court fined a woman Rs 1 lakh for lodging a false report alleging sexual misconduct against her five-year-old daughter.
The order was issued by Additional Sessions Judge Susheel Bala Dagar during a hearing in which the girl’s mother faced allegations of giving a false deposition. The judge stated unequivocally that she filed a false complaint out of rage and to avoid daily disputes.
According to the court, the woman filed a false complaint accusing some people of an offense against her daughter that was booked under Section 5 of the Pocso Act (aggravated penetrative sexual assault). “This false information was given to “extort property” from the accused,” it said.
“She has been found to have misused the provisions of the Pocso Act by filing this false case on a false complaint in order to settle the property dispute, thereby leading to humiliation and defamation of the accused persons. She also tried to misuse the criminal justice system,” the court while issuing the order on 17th November.
It stated that people, such as the woman, were “frequently” registering fictitious cases under the Pocso Act for reasons such as land disputes, marriage disputes, personal grudges, political motives, or personal gain in order to humiliate the accused by keeping them in jail for an extended period of time.
According to the court, this was a “blatant abuse of the law,” and such actions diminished the purpose of the legislation.
“Courts have to take a vigilant stance against this growing menace and have to try to weed out the possibility of false allegations without threatening justice due to the victim or the alleged perpetrator,” it said.
“It has been observed that the misuse of even the most stringent legislation to meet one’s personal motives, mostly negative, has been an evident problem in our legal system. Pocso Act too has turned out to be no exception,” the court added.
It stated that Section 22 of the Pocso Act (punishment for false complaints or false information) guarantees that the legislation is not abused.
“In the present case, the complainant has been found to have misused the Pocso Act instead of having recourse of alternative remedy available with her to settle her alleged property dispute,” the judge said.
It was claimed that the woman misled and abused the authority of the law and the executing agency of the law. “Hence a fine of Rs one lakh is imposed on the complainant for the offense under section 22 of the Pocso Act committed by her within one month and in case of default in payment of fine, she shall undergo simple imprisonment of three months,” the court said.
