Bhandarkar to move High Court on rape charges

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Mumbai, Film-maker Madhur Bhandarkar, who was summoned by a local court in connection with a rape case filed in 2004, today said he would challenge the lower court order in the Bombay High Court.

In a statement on the social networking site ‘Twitter’, he said “As the lower court has issued a process against me on September 19, 2011, for a case which has been going on for seven years, I would like to state here after reading the judgment that we will challenge this order in higher courts and seek justice.” A struggling model and actress Pretti Jain had accused Bhandarkar of raping her on the pretext of giving a lead role in his forthcoming films and marrying her.

While giving details of the case, Bhandarkar, without taking anyone’s name, said “Initially, on July 12, 2004, the complainant had sent a legal notice to me stating if I don’t cast her in my film as the leading lady within 48 hours of the legal notice served then she would adopt necessary criminal and civil legal proceedings against me by lodging a police complaint and complaining before the Court of Law against me for cheating, cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage and criminal intimidation. There was no whisper of rape charges in that notice.” Further, the filmmaker has accused the complainants of being not trustworthy.

The renowned director writes on his blog “Then we came to know that on July nine, 2004, she had already sent a legal notice to one Sohail Khan, an upcoming music director, stating that she is pregnant with his child, affirming that with a DNA test, and she threatened him saying that if he doesn’t accept the paternity of the child then she would take legal action against him in seven days.

“On July 22, 2004, she filed a complaint with the police alleging me of raping her, for which I was granted bail in the sessions court which was upheld by the High Court. The High Court had passed strong strictures against her saying her credibility should be checked. She was trying to falsely implicate me, which cannot be ruled out,” he added.

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