A sessions court in Mumbai adjourned during an anticipatory bail hearing of actor Aditya Pancholi, with relation to a rape case filed against him by an actress in June. The court has stated that considering the alleged incidents pertain to 2004-2009, which meant there was ‘considerable delay’ in the filing of the complaint and therefore they weren’t ruling out Pancholi’s false implication.
According to the court’s observations, it took into account that Pancholi had filed a defamation suit against the said actress in 2017. The court had already granted Pancholi with a pre-arrest bail, taking all of the above into account.
As reported by the Times of India, the court said, “Considering that there is a considerable delay in lodging the report and as the present report has been lodged after the very next day, false implication of the applicant (Pancholi) .. cannot be ruled out at this stage.”
The ruling is reminiscent of the similar case against actor Alok Nath, who was accused of rape by TV producer Vinta Nanda. In the Nath-Nanda case, the courts observed that considering the alleged incident took place more than two decades ago, so it was impossible to conclusively prove the legitimacy of the claims in this day and age.
The alleged victim in Aditya Pancholi’s case said that she met him when she had newly moved to Mumbai to become an actress. She accused him of spiking her drinks, which made her dizzy. She went on to recount how he raped her inside his car, and then went on to blackmail her with private pictures. Pancholi’s defence pointed out to chats that indicated that the report was lodged by the actress due to a monetary dispute.
