KOCHI: Kerala High Court has observed that the provisions of the Pocso Act are being misused by a section of people to wreak vengeance, settle scores and secure illegal gains.
The court said that since sexual exploitation and sexual abuse of children are heinous crimes that need to be effectively addressed, the enactment was brought into force. However, the prime area where false implication of innocent persons in Pocso cases could be found is matrimonial discord between spouses.
“Particularly when the wife is at loggerheads with her husband, the wife not only files litigation before the Family Court as well as the Magistrate Court concerned for getting reliefs from the courts, but also, in order to put the husband under stress and fear and to avoid custody of the child being given to the husband, false allegations of sexual molestation by the father against his own child and stepfathers against the children born to their second wives, etc., could be noticed,” the court observed.
False implication of innocent persons in offences under the Pocso Act is not uncommon in other circumstances as well, and the instances are not exhaustive, the court said. Therefore, courts have a duty to examine the evidence in each case with an element of insight to ascertain whether there is any likelihood of false implication, particularly when false implication is the prime contention raised by the accused seeking acquittal, the court observed.
The court made the remarks while acquitting a stepfather who was accused of sexually assaulting a minor girl born from her mother’s first marriage. The Special Court had sentenced him to 40 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh.
Counsel for the accused submitted that the alleged incidents had occurred between 2014 and 2018, while the victim’s statement was recorded only in 2020. According to the petition, the victim had a lover and used to exchange chats with him. The accused had allegedly taken screenshots of those chats and forwarded them to her mother.
The accused, a computer expert, had linked his mobile phone with the victim’s phone so that messages sent and received on her phone would also appear on his device, the defence submitted. After evaluating the evidence, the court said the materials on record revealed that the accused, being the victim’s stepfather and a computer expert, had connected her mobile phone to his own, accessed her chats with her lover and, as a responsible guardian, forwarded them to her mother with a view to protecting her from the relationship. The court noted that the victim was a Christian while her lover belonged to the Hindu community. “The victim deposed that it was the accused who, in fact, was behind the collapse of the relationship at the intervention of her mother. Though she deposed that she had no animosity towards the accused, the evidence tendered by her would show that she had a feeling of discontent regarding the collapse of her relationship with her lover,” the court observed.
The court further stated that although the victim alleged that her stepfather had molested her between 2014 and 2018, her explanation that she had no occasion to disclose the incidents during that period could not be accepted without reservation. “She could very well have informed the same to the school authorities or any other responsible person about the alleged incidents,” the court said.
The court also noted that although the medical examination of the victim showed signs of intercourse, this could not be treated as corroborative evidence to establish the alleged acts of the accused. Since the victim had admittedly maintained a relationship with the boy, there was a likelihood that the signs of intercourse could have resulted from that relationship.