Noted Bollywood star Jeetendra has been booked by Shimla Police on the charges of molestation following a complaint lodged against him by his cousin, accusing the actor of sexually assaulting her 47 years ago, when the actor and she stayed in a hotel in the town.
The woman, who was 18 at that time, had sent an email to Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police SR Mardi in February this year seeking registration of an FIR against the actor. Jeetendra (Ravi Kapoor) was 28 then.
Shimla’s Superintendent of Police Umapati Jamwal confirmed the development to the Indian Express this morning saying “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 police will now record the statement of the woman before a magistrate. She has also been asked to provide any evidence she may have about her stay in the hotel.
The SP, however, clarified that investigations in the offence will be done as par old provisions of the section 354 IPC as the law was prevalent at the time when the offence was allegedly committed in 1971, not the new/amended provisions.
The police says the woman, so far, has neither given the name of the hotel nor proof of her stay. After the media reports relating to her email in Feburary 2018, Jeetendra’s lawyer had rubbished the charges of the woman as “baseless and ridiculous”. The woman said the incident took place in Shimla in January, 1971.
According to the complainant, Jeetendra had arranged for her to join him from New Delhi to Shimla on the sets of a film he was shooting for. It was during this stay that on one night, he came drunk to her room, joined two twin beds and sexually assaulted her.
Director General of Police, when contacted 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”.
