Recently, the single-headed bench of the Delhi High Court has strongly condemned the trend of making serious allegations by using children to harass and intimidate the other party in a matrimonial dispute.

 Quashing a case against a father under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (POCSO) Act on the basis of a settlement with the complainant mother, the court observed that there is an increasing trend of leveling serious allegations to win matrimonial battles.

A bench of Justice Dinesh Kumar Sharma said that in the present case, due to marital discord, an FIR has been lodged against the husband for mental and physical harassment, cruelty, demand of dowry as well as inappropriate touching of the daughter.

The court said that when the divorce has taken place on the basis of mutual agreement between the two parties. Therefore, no purpose would be served by continuation of the case registered under POCSO as it is stated that the POCSO case was registered in misunderstanding.

The court also said that the trend of filing cases in this manner puts a burden on the criminal justice system. Along with this, the court said that the father, who is also an advocate, will have to defend ten cases free of cost. The court asked the Secretary of Delhi State Legal Services Committee to hand over ten cases to the person, which would be settled by the petitioner free of cost.