SC Raises Concern Over In-Laws Being Dragged Into Marital Dispute Criminal Cases

The Supreme Court has expressed concern over the growing trend of in-laws being implicated in criminal cases stemming from matrimonial disputes, warning that children are often caught in the crossfire. The apex court made the observation while quashing a POCSO case against a woman accused by her divorced sister-in-law of sexually assaulting her minor nephew, calling the allegations unreliable in the circumstances.

A Bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and K Vinod Chandran, in its July 23 order, said it had become "commonplace" for in-laws to be dragged into legal battles arising from marital discord and noted with concern that children were sometimes used to vilify the other side. The court described the allegations against the child's paternal aunt as "shocking" but found that the complaint did not inspire confidence.

The court noted that the complaint was filed on March 17, 2024, only hours after the child's father lodged a separate FIR against the maternal side of the family. It observed that no allegation of sexual abuse had surfaced during the divorce proceedings, which ended by mutual consent in September 2023, despite the mother's claim that she had witnessed such incidents earlier.

Appearing for the aunt, advocate Sana Raees Khan argued that the prosecution was a retaliatory move in an ongoing custody battle. She pointed out that the boy's statement before a Judicial Magistrate under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure did not support the allegations.

The Supreme Court criticised the Bombay High Court for refusing to quash the FIR without properly examining the record, despite an earlier interim order noting that the allegations appeared unsustainable. Finding no prima facie case, the apex court quashed the FIR registered at Khadki Police Station in Pune under Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 8 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012, bringing all proceedings against the aunt to an end.