In less than a month after the Mumbai Police filed a closure report in the alleged #MeToo sexual harassment case lodged by Tanushree Dutta against actor Nana Patekar, the actress will now file protest petition against the actor's clean chit in the case.
Tanushree has opposed the B-Summary report filed by the Oshiwara police station. She was represented by advocate Nitin Satpute at Railway Mobile Court in Andheri here. "The court has granted her time to file a protest petition against the B-Summary report. Tanushree's legal team was present, but not a single officer from the Oshiwara police station was in the court room at the time of hearing. The case has been adjourned to September 7," Satpute told IANS on Sunday.
In June, Mumbai Police spokesperson, Deputy Commissioner of Police Manjunath Shinge had told IANS, "Yes, we have filed a B-Summary Report before the court."
The police move came after they reportedly did not find enough evidence in the matter, virtually ending the case as they cannot continue further investigations. Satpute had said that they would challenge the police move in the matter. The actress had lodged the complaint against Nana in September 2018 accusing him of allegedly sexually harassing her over a decade ago, in 2008 during a shoot, but he had stoutly denied the charges levelled by her.
Now, Tanushree herself has spoken about the entire fiasco to a leading daily and said that by giving B-Summary, Police have "put their heads in the hornet’s nest".
When asked about opposing B-Summary, Tanushree said, “Yes, we are opposing the B-Summary report. We are not accepting it because I think the police has been given ample proof. It’s a harassment case and everyone has seen how much proof is there, with our witnesses talking to the media about it now, and the video footage of my car getting attacked in 2008. It’s so crystal clear and yet they had the audacity to file that report. By doing that, they have put their heads in the hornet’s nest.”
The actress added, “There were lots of discrepancies that we found in the report itself. There were a lot things like how they kept us in the dark and didn’t give us the documents. We were also supposed to receive a copy of the whole B-Summary report and we still haven’t received it. It was supposed to be shared with us. My advocates need it to be able to oppose it and prepare a report, too.” She added, “I think they registered my FIR just for show; we were always kept in the dark about what was happening. Of the witnesses that they included in the report, 90% were not even on set (of Horn Ok Pleasss) when the incident happened. How can you procure witness statements, when half of those names are of people we don’t even recognise! And there is no way to prove if they were on set that day. I guess, they thought they’ll do rafa-dafa and I’ll not say anything about it, but I will not back down because filing this B-Summary means they are trying to prove my complaint is false and malicious.”
She added, “There is enough evidence to put the spotlight on these four accused. The circumstantial evidence is so strong.”
The hearing will be held on September 7. When asked whether she will be present in Mumbai for it, she said, “I don’t know my travel plans as yet. My team will be there to represent me. But I will say this: I am completely on top of it. I am in touch with everything that’s going on. I won’t let go; I’m used to the game-playing, but this time I’m ready with my arsenal,” she concluded.
(Source: IANS/Bombay Times)
