Himachal HC Stays Probe in Sexual Assault Case Against Jeetendra

Jeetendra was booked by Shimla Police after his cousin lodged a complaint of sexual harassment.

Jeetendra.

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

Himachal Pradesh High Court on Saturday, 17 March, stayed the probe against actor Jeetendra in a molestation case registered on his cousin's complaint.

Jeetendra was booked by Shimla Police after his cousin lodged a complaint with Himachal Pradesh's Director General of Police SR Mardi in February, accusing the actor of sexually assaulting her 47 years ago when they stayed at a hotel in Shimla.

In a report in The Indian Express, Shimla’s Superintendent of Police Umapati Jamwal confirmed and said, “an FIR under section 354 IPC has been registered at Chotta Shimla police station. After her email, we got in touch with the complainant, who later had also sent us a written complaint to support her version”.

The victim is expected to record her statement before a magistrate and also asked to provide some evidence, if she has any.

Jeetendra, whose real name is Ravi Kapoor, is the son of the victim's father's sister. The victim made the allegation in a police complaint filed with Himachal Pradesh's Director General of Police. As per the complaint, the incident took place in January 1971, when the victim was 18 and Jeetendra was 28. It happened when he "arranged" for the victim to join him from New Delhi to Shimla on the set of his movie without the complainant's "awareness".

According to the report in The Indian Express, the SP “clarified that investigations in the complaint will be carried out as per the old provisions of the section 354 IPC, in keeping with the law prevalent in 1971 when the alleged crime took place, and not the new and amended provisions”.

The Director General of Police, when contacted by The Indian Express said: “After I got the email from the complainant, I referred it to SP Shimla. The police maybe doing whatever needed under the given circumstances.”

Jeetendra has dubbed the charges as "baseless", and a "miserable effort by a jealous competitor to disrupt his business activities".

The victim has claimed that on the night they reached Shimla, Jeetendra returned to the room in an inebriated state, joined the two separate beds and sexually assaulted her. The allegation comes amid the #MeToo campaign as part of which women have come out about facing sexual abuse at the hands of powerful men. While several ladies have accused Hollywood's powerful men, the Hindi film industry -- while admitting the prevalence of abuse -- have not named and shamed as openly. Jeetendra, now 75, is a well-known name in the Hindi film industry. He is also a film producer, and has daughter Ekta and son Tusshar with wife Shobhaa.

(With inputs from IANS, The Indian Express)