New Delhi: The Delhi High Court slammed a mother for allegedly using her minor daughter “as a tool” to settle personal disputes with her estranged husband by filing a case under the POCSO Act. The court rejected her request to summon his family members, including the girl’s grandmother and paternal aunts, as accused.
Justice Arun Monga observed on September 2, “The case is particularly troubling as the mother chose to weaponize her own minor daughter in this personal dispute, exploiting the child’s trauma for ulterior motives. Such actions not only compromise the integrity and fairness of the legal process but also diminish the seriousness of offences under the POCSO Act, turning them into tools of personal revenge.” The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on her.
The woman had filed an FIR in 2020, alleging sexual abuse of her daughter by the father and the girl’s cousins. She approached the Delhi High Court challenging a trial court order that had rejected her application under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.
Labeling it a blatant abuse of the judicial process, the single-judge bench stated, “What is presented as a pursuit of justice is, in reality, an attempt at coercion, designed not to protect the child but to settle personal vendettas fueled by intense animosity toward her husband.”
The judge noted that the effort to implicate the elderly grandmother and paternal aunts, who had no involvement in the alleged incidents, clearly demonstrated a scheme to drag innocent family members into prolonged criminal proceedings. Upholding the trial court’s fine on the mother, the High Court added an additional Rs 10,000 while dismissing her petition, describing it as “unnecessary and vexatious litigation” and a “clear abuse of the legal process.”