The Delhi Police said on Tuesday, 10 May, that they had started an investigation into the rape allegations against Rajasthan Minister Mahesh Joshi's son, Rohit Joshi, on the basis of an FIR lodged by a 23-year-old woman.
This comes after a zero FIR was registered against Joshi in the Sadar Bazar Police Station on the basis of the woman's complaint.
The police had earlier said that they would transfer the case to the Rajasthan Police. However, later they said that they would investigate the case themselves and efforts to convert the zero FIR into a regular FIR were underway.
While a regular FIR can be lodged only at the police station under the jurisdiction of which an incident occurs, a zero FIR can be lodged at any police station in the country.
A 23-year-old woman from Jaipur had alleged that Joshi raped her on multiple occasions for over a year. In her complaint, the woman alleged that the minister's son raped her on several occasions between 8 January 2021 and 17 April 2022 and also promised to marry her.
Woman Claims Joshi Sexually Assaulted Her in Delhi
The complainant had mentioned in the FIR that Joshi had sexually assaulted her in a hotel in Delhi's Sadar Bazar in March this year.
"Since the commission of sexual assault committed in Sadar Bazar jurisdiction has also been mentioned, investigation has been taken up in PS Sadar Bazar," the police had said in a statement.
As the case was registered in Delhi, and one of the alleged incidents of sexual assault took place in the city's Sadar Bazar, the Delhi Police gets jurisdiction to investigate the case.
The police added that a case against Joshi had been registered under Sections 376 (rape), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc with intent to commit an offence), 312 (causing miscarriage), 366 (kidnapping, abducting, or inducing woman to compel her for marriage, etc), 377 (unnatural offences), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Met on Facebook
The woman said she met Joshi on Facebook in 2021 and had been in contact with him since then. The two first met in Jaipur, and he allegedly invited her to Sawai Madhopur on 8 January 2021.
The woman alleged that the minister's son spiked her drink and took advantage of it during their first meeting. According to the FIR, when she woke up the next morning, he showed her nude photographs and videos, which worried her.
"Rohit made me stay at a hotel where he got our names registered as husband and wife. He then promised to marry me... but then he got drunk and abused me... He would beat me up and make obscene videos of me. He would threaten to upload them and make them viral," the woman alleged.
She further stated that she found out on 11 August 2021 that she was pregnant with his baby and alleged that he forced her to take a pill, but she didn't.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)