Many Pocso cases false and vindictive ones, says Odisha HC

CUTTACK: Disconcerted by the rising number of cases registered under Pocso Act as a fallout of romantic relationships with or between minors, Orissa HC Friday noted with concern that many of these were "false and vindictive litigations", reports Lalmohan Patnaik. "...It was never the legislation's (Pocso Act) intention to prosecute romantic relationships between young adults," Justice Sibo Sankar Mishra said, quashing criminal prosecution in five cases.

Of the five cases, four ended in marriage between the accused and victim after FIRs were registered and chargesheets filed, and both parties had jointly approached HC for quashing of the proceedings. In the four cases, , it was "consensual and voluntary though impulsive indiscretions out of mutual love", the judge said.