Madras HC quashes case against man accused of raping daughter, orders probe against wife

Source: newindianexpress.com

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Tuesday quashed a case filed against a city resident who was charged with raping his 11-year-old daughter and instead ordered a probe against his wife for filing what the court termed a false case. 

Justice N Anand Venkatesh, who got agitated during the hearing, said that the woman had made the allegations to get custody of her daughter from her estranged husband. The court came to the conclusion based on the statements given by the child in two different courts denying the accusations against her father.

In its order, the judge observed, “The prosecution against the petitioner (husband) should not continue even for a minute more and it has to immediately interfere and the FIR has to be quashed, in order to bring an end to a malicious prosecution which is of monstrous in proportions. The second respondent (wife) even without caring for the future of her own daughter, has proceeded to give a complaint alleging an illicit relationship between her husband and daughter, just to make the petitioner fall in line and to get the daughter into her custody. This is the worst type of false prosecution a court can ever encounter.”

The court also directed the police to register a case against the wife under the same POSCO Act and proceed with the prosecution. The court passed the orders when hearing a petition from the man seeking to quash the rape case filed against him at the All Women Police Station, Kilpauk.

“In the considered view of this Court, the second respondent (wife) should not be let off and she should be made to suffer the consequences for having given a false complaint against her husband at the cost of her own daughter,” the judge said and directed the police to immediately proceed against her under Section 22 of the POCSO Act.

“This case should be a lesson for all those who attempt to misuse the provisions of this Act, just to satisfy their own selfish ends,” the judge added.

In his petition, the man alleged that the wife went to the extent of saying that her daughter had also become pregnant. She claimed that the pregnancy was terminated using native medicines.

On being questioned, the child categorically denied the charges against her father, both at the time of giving a statement under Section 164 of the CrPC and at the High Court. “Hence, it is clear that the allegations made by the wife, who is living separately, are completely false and she has given the complaint with an ulterior motive against her husband,” the judge said.

“This case has shocked the conscience of this court and it is unbelievable that the mother, just for the sake of taking custody of her child, can go to the extent of making such serious allegations against her husband by alleging that he is having physical contact with his own daughter,” the judge said.

The judge added that there were instances when the attention of the court was drawn to similar incidents, where false complaints were given claiming the husband had committed an offence against the daughter under the POCSO Act. He said the court was informed that the cheap tactic was adopted to arm-twist the husband and make him fall in line. “This court was not willing to believe that such instances can happen and this case is an eye-opener on the extent to which the POCSO Act can be misused,” the judge noted.

The court said that the POCSO Act was drafted to safeguard children from sexual abuse. The consequences of prosecuting a person under this Act are very serious and apart from providing for stringent punishments, the person who is prosecuted comes down in the eyes of the society at large and is shunned.

The judge said that fortunately in this case, the child was able to express herself very clearly before the court and therefore on the face of it, the court was able to find that the Act has been misused by the wife. “If that had not happened, the petitioner would have been forced to go through the rigour of a trial and the situation would have turned even murkier,” the judge noted.