Complaints of this kind take up police time and mean real offences are not investigated as thoroughly, the judge said. New Delhi: While imposing a fine of Rs 30,000 on the petitioners in a case for filing frivolous complaints, the Delhi high court recently said that it has become a trend to file false sexual harassment cases for ulterior motives. Offences under Sections 354, 354A, 354B, 354C, 354D of the Indian Penal Code and others are being used to force a party to withdraw a complaint or arm-twist them, LiveLaw quoted the bench as saying. The court was hearing a petition to quash two FIRs. The complainant in one of the FIRs was the accused in the other FIR. The bench was told that common friends and relatives had intervened, and the parties had settled the matter between them orally. The petitioners and the respondents have “realised their mistake” and decided to “compromise”, LiveLaw reported. The court said the sections in the FIR are serious offences, and can tarnish the reputation of whoever they are levelled against. These charges cannot be filed “at the drop of a hat”, LiveLaw quoted the bench of Justice Subramonium Prasad as saying. This case, the judge continued, was a “classic example” of the misuse of sexual harassment laws, as a fight over parking had been escalated into charges of ‘outraging the modesty of a women’. The police force spends considerable time investigating these frivolous charges, the bench said, and thus it is fair to impose a fine on those who file them. “This court can take judicial notice of the fact that the police force is very limited. Police personnel have to spend time in investigating frivolous cases. They have to attend court proceedings, prepare Status Report etc. The result is that investigation in serious offences gets compromised and accused escape because of shoddy investigation,” the judge said. The judge quashed the FIRs pertaining to the matter.