A police complaint was filed against Bollywood actor Jeetendra accusing him of sexual assault. The alleged incident happened 47 years ago, in 1971 and the complainant is Jeetendra’s cousin. The actor has denied the charges as baseless and fabricated, and a “miserable effort by a jealous competitor to disrupt his business activities.”
An FIR has been filed by Jeetendra’s cousin with Himachal Pradesh’s Director General of Police, as reported by IANS. As per the complaint, the incident took place when she was 18 and Jeetendra was 28. It is alleged that the actor arranged for his cousin to travel from New Delhi to Shimla, where he was shooting, and showed up drunk at night in the where he allegedly sexually assaulted her.
Speaking on the actor’s behalf, Jeetendra’s lawyer, Rizwan Siddiquee rubbished the charges and said:
“Foremost my client (Jeetendra) specifically and categorically denies any such incident. 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 business activities of my client and his esteemed company. Such efforts are, therefore, in all fairness treated with the contempt it truly deserves.”
Terming the charges as ‘baseless, ridiculous and fabricated’, Siddiquee further said that the no complaint can be entertained by the courts of law after almost 50 years. He said:
“And the Limitation Act 1963 was specifically enacted to ensure that all genuine complaints are made within a maximum time limit of three years, so that a proper investigation is carried out and timely justice is delivered.”
Jeetendra, a veteran Bollywood actor, is currently a film producer and the chairman of the Balaji Telefilms, Balaji Motion Pictures and ALT Balaji.
