Activist accused of molesting a woman cop gets interim relief in Mumbai

Mumbai: An animal rights activist, against whom a woman police officer had filed a case of molestation, was on Monday granted interim protection from arrest till August 6 by a local court.

The activist Devdutt Nayak, member of People for Animals, in his anticipatory bail application filed before a sessions court earlier, had alleged that he was falsely implicated by the woman police officer as he and some other members wanted to file a case against playback singer Abhijit Bhattacharya. According to Nayak, although he and some other animal activists had approached the Amboli police station in suburban Jogeshwari to file a case of assault and abuse against Bhattacharya following a dispute with him over stray dogs last month, the woman police inspector was not ready to register the case. Later, the group of activists went to the higher police authorities to complain about the woman officer`s "non-cooperation". In the application, Nayak claimed that while he was explaining in detail to the authorities about the erroneous statement recorded by the woman officer, she stood up and claimed that Nayak touched her inappropriately. "Nayak has been granted interim protection from arrest till August 6 and the application is likely to be heard on the same day," Nayak`s advocate Moin Khan said.