Mumbai: Bollywood actor Shiney Ahuja, who
was sentenced to seven years' rigorous imprisonment for raping
his domestic help, on Tuesday moved the Bombay High Court
challenging his conviction on the ground that it was a
"perverse and illegal" judgement.
Shiney maintained in the appeal that even after the
victim testified under oath that neither rape nor sexual
intercourse took place between them, still the lower court
held him guilty.
"Apart from the girl denying the alleged offence, even
the medical evidence is in negative. Evidence given by
doctors, who examined Shiney and the victim, stated that there
are no injuries on the girl's body. Even the semen and blood
samples were negative of Shiney's DNA," the appeal stated.
Claiming that the sessions court judge committed
serious error, the appeal said, "Instead of giving benefit of
existing lapses in medical evidence and also in the statement
of witnesses, to the accused, the judge has given the benefit
to the prosecution. Not a single stain of semen and blood was
found on the private parts of the girl or the accused."
The actor's appeal was admitted today and his plea for
bail has been posted for hearing on April 27 by Justice A R
Joshi.
"According to the testimony of a witness Rekha Mane,
the girl was in a disarrayed condition and had come down
running on the day of the incident. However, the CCTV footage
of the building's lift lobby clearly shows the girl coming
down calmly with her hair neatly combed and tied and clothes
in order," the appeal claimed.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, April 19, 2011, 21:14