New Delhi: The Delhi High Court reprimanded a mother for allegedly exploiting her minor daughter to pursue personal grievances against her estranged husband by filing a case under the POCSO Act. The court rejected her request to name the girl’s grandmother and paternal aunts as accused.
On September 2, Justice Arun Monga stated, “This case is particularly troubling because the mother appears to have used her own child to advance a personal conflict, taking advantage of the child’s vulnerability. Such conduct undermines both the integrity of the legal process and the seriousness of offences under the POCSO Act, effectively turning them into tools for personal revenge.” The court also imposed a fine of Rs 20,000 on her.
In 2020, the woman filed an FIR alleging that her husband and the girl’s cousins had sexually abused her daughter. She later approached the Delhi High Court, challenging a trial court’s dismissal of her petition under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Describing her actions as a misuse of the judicial system, the single-judge bench observed, “What is presented as a pursuit of justice is, in reality, an attempt at coercion—aimed not at protecting the child but at settling personal scores with her husband.”
The judge noted that her attempt to implicate the elderly grandmother and paternal aunts—who had no role in the alleged incidents—revealed a deliberate effort to drag innocent family members into prolonged criminal proceedings. While upholding the fine previously imposed by the trial court, the High Court increased it by Rs 10,000 and dismissed her petition, calling it “unnecessary and vexatious litigation” and “a clear abuse of the legal process.”