Mumbai, February 24 – The complainant in the alleged sexual harassment case against actor Sharad Kapoor has approached the Bombay High Court, seeking to transfer the case to the Crime Branch. She has also sought the suspension of the police officer involved in the case.
Bollywood actor Sharad Kapoor has been accused of sexual harassment by a 32-year-old woman, who claims that he called her to his house under the pretense of discussing a project and then sexually harassed her.
The lawyer for the complainant, Ali Kaashif Khan, told IANS, “The woman has already filed a petition against the police complaint authority, senior police inspector Karkay, and the investigating officer, where the notice has been served, the evidence has also been submitted, and the cross-examination has also been conducted. However, the case has been closed. Despite the fact that Sharad Kapoor has provided screenshots of his WhatsApp conversations, the Khar police station did not arrest him. We have an answer to that – in the same month, in the same section 79, another accused was arrested in another case within 24 hours.”
He further added, "So, you selectively arrest some cases and do not arrest others. Basically, the law does not function at the will of the officer. You have to provide justification. The second issue is that in the chart sheet, they have written a line stating that they have arrested the accused and produced him in court. The law does not function at the will of the officer. You have to provide justification. The second issue is that in the chart sheet, they have written a line stating that they have arrested the accused and produced him in court.”
"This is a very big lie that has been written in the chargesheet. Another issue we have raised is that the accused was served with a summons notice by the police officer, and after being arrested under section 35 (which used to be 41A), he never recorded his statement in response to the notice. Despite this, the police have acted in a high-handed manner, violating the existing law of the Supreme Court, and there is no justification for it. The woman filed the FIR in 2024, and it has now been more than a year. The accused is giving false statements in the media, but he has not been arrested. The police have also invoked section 67A of the Information Technology Act, which carries a punishment of 5 years."
