Girl lodges false complaint against cousins; 19 and 20-year-old youths remained in jail for 68 days

KOCHI: Two youths, aged 19 and 20, remained in jail for 68 days on the false sexual harassment complaint lodged by a minor school student. It was the girl herself who later came out revealing that the complaint was false after the youths ended up in jail. With this, the High Court granted bail to both the youths. The girl is a cousin of the youths.

The girl lodged a false complaint against her cousins as they opposed her love affair with a classmate. Justice CS Dias also directed the provision of counselling for the 19 and 20-year-old youths who had to serve jail time at a young age for intervening for the good of their cousin.

The court said that the police should exercise a lot of caution before taking action, including arrest, in the case of molestation complaints filed by minors against their relatives and that the government should formulate guidelines in this regard. The youths were arrested by the Thadiyittapparambu police based on the complaint of the girl. Affidavits of the girl and the girl's father stating that the complaint was false were filed along with the bail plea of ​​both youngsters. Following this, the court summoned the girl and spoke to her.

The girl testified in court that she filed the complaint against the cousins because of her animosity toward them for telling her mother about her relationship with a classmate. The girl's father said that he came to know about his daughter's complaint only when the police arrived at his house. The court said that this case is the perfect example of the misuse of the POCSO Act and that such misuse of the law is posing a serious threat.