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Himachal High Court quashes sexual assault complaint against Jeetendra

22 May 2019

In the midst of #MeToo movement, several industry names surfaced who were accused of sexual harassment, abuse, assault etc. Veteran actor Jeetendra was also named in a complaint when his cousin alleged that she was harassed in 1971 in Shimla. Now, Himachal Pradesh High Court has quashed the complained against the actor. The FIR, which was lodged on February 21 this year, was dismissed by Justice Ajay Mohan Goel on May 20, 2019. In the 26 page judgement, Justice Goel found credible the actors contention and that the complaint was mala fide as the complainants daughter was rejected during an audition for Balaji Motion Pictures Limited which is run by Jeetendra and his family. This lends credibility to the contention that the lodging of the FIR was an act of mala fide and a result of the daughter of his cousin having been rejected, the court said. It added that the contents of the complaint are vague. They lead to the conclusion that the allegations are so absurd and inherently improbable, on the basis of which, no prudent person can ever reach a just conclusion that there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused, the judge observed. The complaint which was filed in February this year stated that the assault took place in 1971 in a hotel room in Shimla. She claimed that the room had two separate beds and while she was sleeping, he allegedly joined the beds and tried to outrage her modestly. She claimed that the actor was drunk at the time. She claimed that the #MeToo movement encouraged her to speak against the abuse. At the time of the alleged assault, she was 18 and Jeetendra was 28. ALSO READ: Jeetendra: How Jumping Jack Jeetu jumped his way to unbelievable success