TNI Bureau: In a huge relief to Bollywood filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar, the Supreme Court on Monday quashed rape charges leveled against him. He was accused of raping a struggling model-turned actress alluring her giving a lead role in his forthcoming films.
Bhandarkar had approached the apex court appealing that the procedure was not followed properly. Meanwhile, the victim Preeti Jain also told the court that she was not interested to take the matter to the court as it is already a 9-year-old case.
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Preeti had alleged that Bhandarkar had raped her several times between 1999 and 2004 alluring her to marry and give her a chance in his movies. A Mumbai Metropolitan court in September 2011 had found some substance in Preeti’s complaint and directed the filmmaker to face the trial.
However, Bhandarkar was granted anticipatory bail in November last year by the magisterial court.
This case is uncannily similar to the case against Swami Nithyananda–over a dozen times alleged‘rape’ over 5 years!
Common elements – claims of false promises by the alleged victim, evidence of only victim taken by the police, no evidence to substantiate the charges…in Nithyananda’s case not only is there no evidence for the alleged victim but there is hard evidence to prove the alleged victim is lying and it is a malicious case.
But in Nithyananda’s case, the facts seem to be even more starkly against the alleged victim – Arathi Rao alleges rape over 50 times across India and US over 5 years! But there is hard evidence to disprove that – according to her medical records procured from the US Court she has been carrying an incurable, highly contagious STD that spreads even through saliva not just sexual contact, and that too she has the STD at least a year before the alleged first incident of rape! The incidents she claims have discrepancies in date and place – she claims rape in Tamil Nadu while her medical records prove she is on the same day in US and Nithyananda according to the video records is in Karnataka in a public program. To add to this, her character also is questionable as her medical records show she has had extra-marital affair with a suspected HIV positive person.
It is interesting also that Arathi Rao is not trying this case in USA (where also she claims multiple incidents of rape)? Is it that the laws are more stringent so she knows her case will not stand?
In the case of Madhur Bhandarkar, the police had given a clean chit to him but the Court observed a trial is warranted. In Nithyananda’s case, the Court has from the beginning been questioning the police about their investigation and it is the police who instead of doing a fair investigation are suppressing evidence not in favor of them.
One would think this should lead to a straightforward quash of the case against Nithyananda if just the hard evidence is considered and presented to the Court!