Karnataka High Court: 'Malicious Parent Syndrome' in Custody Disputes | Bengaluru News

BENGALURU: Terming 'bad parent syndrome' as an emerging trend in the child custody battle, the Karnataka High Court recently quashed a criminal case filed by a man against his ex-wife's third husband under IPC and Pocso Act .
Malevolent parent syndrome often involves situations in which an estranged or divorced parent targets the other parent. In some cases, parents may mistreat their own children in order to damage the other parent's image or reputation.
In 2019, he had registered a case alleging that his ex-wife's third husband sexually harassed his daughter and outraged modesty. He had invoked the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses Act 2012 and the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000 against the third husband.
While quashing the case against the third husband, Justice M. Nagaprasanna referred to a case in which Madras HC had quashed a similar case, saying it was “the worst kind of false prosecution” that a court could ever encounter .
The present case is no less. “It is clearly a gross abuse of the provisions of the sentence by the applicant when he settles his wayward scores with the mother of his child who abandoned him and married the applicant,” the judge said.
The judge clarified that the above remark about malicious parents was made based on the facts of the case. “The arguing parents forget that they imagine that their own child has been the victim of such an attack. The negative impact of such a projection on the child's psyche is unimaginable. Parents should therefore think and introspect before taking any action “If it is true, the law will take its course, but if it is intended for the purpose of custody, as is the case in the present case, no greater can be done “There is a sin that the parents can commit,” the judge said.
Regretting that the Pocso Act, which was meant to protect the child from abuse, is being abused by the complainant (first husband), the judge said, “Several offenses are being registered against each other to get custody of the child. Stories are linked together to maintain or take custody of the child. This is a classic example of what is emerging as “malicious parent syndrome.”

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The complainant and the woman married in 2007 and their daughter was born in May 2008. In 2015, they parted ways, with the mother gaining custody of the girl and visitation rights from the father. According to the agreement, the girl was in her father's care from December 30, 2018, to May 2019, when the mother completed her studies at Harvard University.
After their return, the applicant and his mother initiated a series of procedures to keep the child with them. Some counterclaims were also filed by the mother. In most of these cases, police filed “B” (closure) reports. Meanwhile, the complainant filed a complaint with the Cubbon Park police against his wife's third husband, who approached the High Court.
After reviewing the evidence, Justice Nagaprasanna observed that the girl's statements were a testimony to the suffering she had to endure with her father.
The girl said in a statement to a judge in February 2021 that she wanted to live with her mother and was unhappy in her father's house because he would be away for a long time, the judge said. “My father would always scream when I spoke to my mother… I felt lonely. “I wrote a message to my mother on Instagram and asked her to pick me up,” the judge quoted the girl as saying.