Supreme Court issues nationwide safeguards against misuse of POCSO complaints in custody battles

In a custody dispute between a father ('R') and mother ('E'), the Supreme Court found that a POCSO Act complaint filed by the mother against the father, alleging sexual assault of their child, was engineered to regain custody after the Court had earlier confirmed custody with the father. A CBI investigation found the case not maintainable, and the Court (J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan, JJ., 24 September 2026) quashed the FIR, restored legal custody to the father, and directed a Family Court-supervised, expert-assisted process — involving CBI officers and NIMHANS child psychiatry and psychology faculty — to reintegrate the child with the father. Beyond the case, the Court laid down safeguards to prevent misuse of the POCSO Act in matrimonial litigation.

Where a POCSO offence is alleged against a parent or a family member living with the child, and a matrimonial dispute exists between the parents, police must verify the dispute at the time of the complaint and avoid hasty arrest; courts deciding bail or remand must examine whether the arrest decision accounted for the strained relationship; and District Child Protection Units must maintain updated panels of child psychiatry and psychology experts under the POCSO Rules, 2020, to assist before coercive action is taken. The Court also endorsed the Kerala High Court's view that mere registration of a POCSO case should not defeat a parent's custody claim. The judgment is to be circulated to every High Court and police station in the country.