SC Refuses to Quash FIR Against Ex-Judge Accused of Raping Minor Daughter

Describing it as "shocking", the Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected a criminal appeal by a former judicial officer accused of sexual abuse of his young daughter.

“The daughter is making an allegation. It is a shocking case. He is a judicial officer and these are serious allegations of incest. This is shocking. And the daughter has made the allegations. She must have been scarred for life. How can this be a case for quashing?" a bench comprising Justices Prashant Kumar Mishra and Manmohan asked.

The bench consequently dismissed his appeal challenging a Bombay High Court decision on April 15, 2025, sustaining the charges being framed by the trial court.

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The bench did not accept the arguments that the judge had been planted due to the 16-year-old matrimonial litigation with his estranged wife, and the case was a "counter blast" and lodged after his father had committed suicide allegedly due to harassment by the complainant's side.

“We don't want to get into all this. Suicide may be because of the son's (judge) actions,” Justice Manmohan remarked.

The counsel for the former judge said, “This man's entire life has been ruined starting with his matrimonial problems." “His father committed suicide. The complaint was made much later and was never mentioned during earlier legal proceedings,” the lawyer added.

The bench noted, nonetheless, the serious allegations, and charges under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against him.

The case stemmed from an FIR lodged on January 21, 2019, in Bhandara, Maharashtra after the alleged incidents of abuse occurred between May 2014 and 2018.

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It came on record that a chargesheet was filed however no formal charges have yet been framed in the case.

The ex-judge was charged under section 354 of IPC for assaulting a woman with intent to outrage her modesty in addition to sections 7, 8, 9(l), 9(n) and 10 of the POCSO Act, involving various degrees of sexual assault including aggravated and incestuous sexual assault.

The plea alleged that the complaint was based on malicious intent and that the FIR was registered four years - at the same time as ongoing custody and matrimonial proceedings - after the incident.

The plea stated that the statutory presumption under the POCSO Act was misused, as no foundation facts had been proved yet.

As the apex Court refused to quash the charges, the ex-judge is likely to be placed on trial in a special POCSO trial.

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