NEW DELHI: Stating that one can’t lose sight of the fact that a survivor fears for her reputation in sexual assault cases, a city court has put sitting AAP MLA Mohinder Goyal on trial after finding prima facie a case of rape and criminal intimidation against him.
Special judge Geetanjli Goel also framed charges under Information Technology Act against the MLA’s brother, Ishwar Chand Goyal, for allegedly sending sexually explicit and obscene clips to the complainant. “The veracity of the statement of the prosecutrix and witnesses can be tested only during trial,” the court held.
The accused had pleaded not guilty and argued that the incident alleged by the woman took place two years before the complaint was filed.
The woman had alleged rape by the MLA when she went to see him over a pension issue. She further claimed that the MLA and his brother pressured her into establishing physical relations and sent her explicit clips. The MLA forcibly assaulted her on multiple occasions and owing to the fear of losing her reputation she accepted his apology in December 2018.
However, on February 5, 2019, she received a message with obscene videos from the MLA’s brother. “Ishwar Chand also used to call her many times and put pressure on her to establish physical relations with him,” it was alleged.
From the record placed before the judge, it was seen that the legislator allegedly threatened to defame the survivor.
The counsel for the accused, advocate RK Upadhyay, cited the two-and-a-half-year gap between the alleged incident and the date of complaint. He argued there was no evidence to indicate that the woman complained to anyone when she went out of the house. Though the allegations stated that the MLA had assaulted the woman repeatedly, there was no time and date given.
The lawyer said neither was any evidence collected from the accused’s house nor did police record statements of any of the witnesses from his office. “He was staying in a flat in a respectable society. Neither any CCTV footage was collected, nor was there any register entry to show who visited on the said date. Regarding the incident in the office, many people coming and going could have been witnesses, but no statement of any employee was recorded,” he added.
The woman’s complaint had “specific allegations” of Mohinder Goyal having forcibly established physical relations with her on two occasions and also threatening her. “IPC sections 376(2)(n) (committing rape repeatedly), 509 (insulting woman’s modesty) and 506 (criminal intimidation) are prima facie made out against the accused,” the court held.
The MLA’s brother, however, has been put on trial for offences under sections 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) and 67A (publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc) of IT Act.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)