NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has quashed a POCSO case against a paternal aunt and flagged the trend of in-laws being dragged into cases arising from marital discord.
A two-judge bench comprising Justices J B Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran said that it was “shocked” that a divorced mother alleged her son was molested by his paternal aunt.
“It is commonplace, nay customary that in-laws are dragged in to settle scores... and often children are used to vilify each other,” the two-judge Supreme Court bench observed.
The court noted that the September 2023 divorce was by mutual consent. The twins are in the father’s custody with visitation to the mother. The FIR (First Information Report) was lodged on March 17, 2024, at Khadki Police Station, Pune, under Section 354 (Outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 8 of POCSO, hours after the father filed a similar FIR against the maternal uncle.
The bench said no such allegation was made during the divorce and the FIR “does not inspire confidence”.
While quashing the FIR against the paternal aunt, registered at the Khadki Police Station, the court said, there shall be no further proceedings taken in pursuance of the FIR.
It criticised the Bombay HC for not examining records and ordered no further proceedings against the aunt.