Veteran actor Jeetendra has been accused of sexually assaulting his cousin 47 years ago, a charge that he has rubbished as “baseless and ridiculous”. The complainant who hasn't been named, said the actor, whose actual name is Ravi Kapoor, is her aunt's son, and that with the passing away of her parent's she can now speak the truth without fear of hurting them.
In a complaint written to the Director General of Police, Himachal Pradesh, the complainant said the incident took place in Shimla in January 1971, when she was 18 and Jeetendra was 28. She said he had “arranged” for the victim to join him from New Delhi to Shimla on the sets of a film he was shooting for, and after reaching the place at night, an inebriated Jeetendra went to her room which she was supposed to share with him, joined two twin beds and sexually assaulted her.
Police sources in Shimla said an FIR had not been registered as the complaint had been emailed to the DGP, and for the registration of an FIR, signature of the complainant was necessary. Jeetendra, meanwhile, has denied that any such incident had taken place. His advocate Rizwan Siddiquee issued a statement in Mumbai, saying the allegation was “baseless and ridiculous”. It said, “Foremost, my client specifically and categorically denies any such incident. Besides even otherwise such baseless, ridiculous and fabricated claims cannot be entertained by any Court of law or the law enforcement agencies after a span of almost 50 years.”
Siddiquee added that the law did not give any person “any rights or liberties of making any baseless... claims against any man publicly and seek to defame him with a hidden personal agenda. Media is therefore advised to cautiously refrain from giving any importance to such ridiculous, baseless and fabricated claims, and they should not participate in any way whatsoever in defaming or assassinating the character of any man in such cases.”
The statement also questioned the timing of the complaint. “In any event, the timing of this baseless complaint seems to be nothing but a miserable effort made by a jealous competitor to disrupt the baseless complaint seems to be nothing but a miserable effort made by a jealous competitor to disrupt the business activities of my client and his esteemed company. Such efforts are therefore in all fairness treated with the contempt it truly deserves.”
