The molestation case filed by a 13-year-old son against his own mother in Kadakkavoor is a terrible proof that the POCSO Act can be misused to any extent. It was also one of the ugliest forms of marital strife. It was found that the husband, who is living separately from his wife, had influenced his son to lodge a molestation complaint against his wife. Earlier, the High Court had intervened and ordered an expert investigation. In the investigation conducted by Dr Divya Gopinath, a report was given stating that the complaint was false and the case against the housewife should be closed. Based on this, the POCSO case charged against the housewife was quashed by the Thiruvananthapuram POCSO Court on the instructions of the High Court. The complainant son then approached the Supreme Court against this. A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court rejected the appeal petition filed by the son after finding the documents submitted by the complainants in connection with the case to be unsatisfactory. The bench had expressed doubts about the validity of the allegation when the petition came up for consideration by the court. The Supreme Court's ruling now validates the possibility that the child's father may have forced the son to file the case to settle his animosity with his wife.

In any case, this Kadakkavoor POCSO case is a reminder of how deadly and dangerous the misuse of the POCSO Act can be for anyone who is leading a life with dignity. Perhaps this is the most unusual case among the many cases that have already reached the POCSO courts. It is hard to describe the despicable attitude of the man who pushed a boy all the way to the Supreme Court with such a wicked and shocking allegation against his own mother.

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from the long litigation that went all the way to the Supreme Court, even though the investigation proved that the harassment complaint case was false. The first lesson is not to approach any POCSO case with preconceived notions. There is no other way beyond this to tarnish the reputation of someone you don't like in society. POCSO cases should be handled only with utmost care and discretion. It is easy to trap anyone in a POCSO case. Since the onus is on the accused to prove that he has not committed the crime, a person should be charged only after double-checking. Even if the accused in the case is eventually found innocent by the court, the lost honour and dignity cannot be recovered so quickly. In such cases, society always views the accused through the lens of suspicion and hatred. The helpless housewife in Kadakkavoor had to spend several days in the sub-jail. How long will it take to erase the deep-seated stain of humiliation she faced from the locals and family members? Such a misfortune would not have happened to the housewife if the police had handled the POCSO complaint with equanimity and logic. The law should also include a provision to punish those filing false POCSO complaints.