THANE: Setting a precedent, a Thane court acquitted a man facing charges of sexual harassment levelled by his minor daughter and ordered legal proceedings against her under provisions of perjury. The special judge took a serious view of the girl giving false evidence in court and ordered the proceedings to give out a strong message against misuse of the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).In August 2013, the girl, who was then 16 years old, had in a complaint to the police alleged that while she was sleeping with her parents her father touched her inappropriately and even raped her on several occasions, said the prosecutor. Her father, a daily wage worker, was booked under POCSO and arrested by the Navi Mumbai police in April 2014.During her deposition in court, the girl confessed that she had filed a false complaint against her father after a tiff with him. “A strong message should be given to society that the POCSO Act should not be misused,” the court said.“The complainant has undoubtedly misused the provisions of POCSO Act and lodged a false complaint against her own father, thereby causing him grave hardship, mental agony and trauma. He has spent close to three years in jail owing to serious allegations levelled against him,” the order said.