MUMBAI: Bombay high court on Monday said it was not, at this stage, inclined to let a woman withdraw her petition that sought witness protection for herself, registration of FIR and CBI probe against a duo including a senior politician on her allegations of being raped in 2013.
“The public prosecutor seeks time to file the closure report,’’ said the HC order while adjourning the hearing in the matter to February 18.
The woman through her counsel Sunip Sen submitted that the state has “closed the case,’’ and hence she wished to withdraw her petition. Sen said the petition was “mainly’’ seeking protection as her complaint was against “highly influential person’’.
The petition was filed last month alleging that the “accused had also threatened her with dire consequences". The PP Deepak Thakare, said admittedly there has been no FIR registered yet and said the state would submit the report on her complaint by the next date.
A bench said, “In case a closure report is filed in the registry, the registry to accept the same.’’ There were two parties who sought to intervene including a women’s NGO from Delhi.
Advocate Satish Maneshinde appearing for the NGO said it wished to intervene to assist the court in determining the truth. The Prosecutor questioned their locus or right to intervene in the matter.
The bench orally said that there could be two aspects in the matter—that the complaint could be true or false, and in both the cases it would be “serious” matter. It added that there is also a possibility that it is “political” in which case too, it would be serious.
The woman, who made only the state and union of India as parties to her petition, had filed a complaint before a Mumbai magistrate in October 2013 which was dismissed as withdrawn, “erroneously’’ on October 30, 2013. Her complaint was against the politician and another man who she alleged invited her to a hotel to meet the politician. Her petition sought quashing of the 2013 magistrate’s order, directions to the police to register an FIR on her complaint and when it does, it be transferred to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Her petition said, “The state has a duty to protect life and liberty of its citizens".
She said “after withdrawal of complaint’’ she was “leading a peaceful life but all of a sudden from the past four-five months threats to her and her family members restarted.’’ She met with an accident in August 2020 she said and since then she alleged she “ is being followed four unknown persons.’’