Rise in women misusing law to get lucrative settlements: SC

NEW DELHI: Supreme Court on Friday flagged a "worrying trend" of women misusing laws on dowry harassment, domestic violence and Pocso by filing frivolous and vexatious complaint against husband and in-laws. The court said genuine cases were getting overshadowed and obscured by the "overwhelming" number of false cases filed by spouses as an "arm-twisting" method to reach a more lucrative settlement.

A bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan said nowadays a "matrimonial bouquet" was presented against estranged spouses once a relationship turned sour.

" This set of cases frequently includes bogus and empty allegations and false claims of harassment, cruelty and marital hardships that, more often than not, contain little to no substance at all and are usually not backed by any material or other documentary evidence," the bench said.

"We also painfully take judicial cognisance of the fact that the courts of law are being misused and overburdened by such vague and vexatious litigations between spouses," SC added.

The bench said there were many cases where women were genuinely looking for respite from the actions of their spouses, and the onus was on courts to separate the wheat from the chaff. It said care should be taken to ensure that the rights and freedoms of innocent parties were not trampled or arbitrarily taken away by unscrupulous and baseless litigation.

"A recent trend in this regard is when the wife resorts to filing false complaints under the Pocso Act alleging that the husband... has committed wanton acts which are sexual in nature against the minor daughter. At the centre of this sort of litigation is a child who is often used by her mother against her father, against her will and wishes, so as to make false and vexatious complaints against her father... in order to exact revenge or as an arm-twisting tactic to obtain a higher monetary settlement or to simply harass," the bench said.

The court passed the order while quashing criminal proceedings under Pocso lodged by a girl against her father, uncle and other family members. The court said there was no evidence to prove the allegations, and the girl had been tutored by her mother.

"Courts have to exercise utmost restraint while entertaining such suits and criminal proceedings as any misstep and overreach can have a cascading effect on the health, both mental and physical, of the parties involved and the sanctity of the institution of marriage itself," SC said.