Mumbai court closes ‘Me Too’ case against Nana Patekar, 3 others filed by Tanushree Dutta
A court dismissed Tanushree Dutta's sexual harassment cases against actor Nana Patekar and others, citing insufficient evidence and expired legal limitations.
MUMBAI: A metropolitan magistrate’s court in Andheri has disposed of two criminal cases relating to sexual harassment registered against actor Nana Patekar and three others by actor Tanushree Dutta during the ‘Me Too’ movement.
The first FIR was registered at the Oshiwara police station on October 5, 2018, and the second five days later. The FIRs pertained to two incidents alleged to have taken place in March 2008 and October 2010. The actress had charged Patekar, Ganesh Acharya, Rakesh Sarang and Abdul Sami Abdul Gani Siddhiqui with ‘outraging and insulting her modesty on the sets of a Hindi film.
The investigation by the Oshiwara police found nothing incriminating and that the complaints were false. The police had accordingly filed summary reports to close the proceedings.
Metropolitan magistrate NV Bansal on Friday closed the first case, stating that the police had filed the closure reports beyond period of limitation. He said Dutta had filed an FIR in 2018 under Sections 354 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on an incident that allegedly occurred on March 23, 2008. The offence has a limitation of three years as per provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), the magistrate said.
As regards the second alleged incident, in which specific allegations were made against Siddhiqui, the court said there was no mens rea or guilty intention on his part and there were no grounds to proceed against him.
