Veteran Bollywood star alleges she was raped, businessman arrested in Mumbai

She had filed a complaint at the Juhu Police Station in Mumbai.

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MUMBAI: A prominent veteran Bollywood star has alleged that she was raped by a Mumbai-based businessman. She had complained in February 2018 that he was stalking her. She filed a complaint at the Juhu Police Station in Mumbai that he raped her. The businessman was arrested by the police on Thursday night and was sent to police remand till 28 March by Mumbai's Esplanade Court.

Following the rape allegations, the case was transferred to the crime branch of the Mumbai Police. Police have registered the case against the businessman under Sections 376, 420, 465, 467, 468, 469, 471 and 504 of the IPC.

But the defence lawyer has claimed that the complainant and the accused were married and are husband and wife as per the Nikahnama. As per the lawyers, the veteran actress had been living with the accused for two years and even went for Umrah in November 2017 as a couple. As per the lawyer, she had declared the accused as her husband on the visa as they went for Umrah.

This is the latest case of sexual assault or harassment that has turned up in Bollywood circles.

Recently, veteran actor Jeetendra had been accused by his cousin of sexual assault when he was 25 years old.

While these are outright allegations of molestation and sexual assault, there have been a number of other accusations of sexual harassment by prominent Bollywood faces like Richa Chadda, Kalki Koechlin and Daisy Irani, to name a few.

These claims of sexual harassment by leading names in the film industry have come more or less in conjunction with the global #MeToo movement that was sparked by Hollywood star Rose McGowan.

The movement had also taken off on the parallel name-and-shame campaign by foreign affairs scholar Christine Fair against members of the academia who had sexually harassed her. This had been met with a similar response within Indian academia, with an anonymous crowd-sourced list of abusers in the Indian higher education setup.