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Synopsis

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday exempted Rakhi Sawant from appearing before the magistrate court in the case registered against her for outraging the modesty of a woman. 

The high court also issued notice to the model-complainant in the petition filed by Rakhi Sawant to quash the case registered against her for outraging the modesty of a woman.

The division bench of the high court comprising Justice PD Naik and Justice NR Borkar issued notice to model and posted the matter to 10 January for hearing.

Sawant had approached the high court to quash the Section 354A case and defamation case filed against her.

Sawant was booked under was booked for offences under Sections 354(A) (outraging modesty of a woman), 500 (defamation), 504 (criminal intimidation), 509 (intent of provoking breach) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with Section 67(A) of the Information and Technology Act (IT Act).

Advocate Ali Khaasif Khan Deshmukh, appearing for Sawant, submitted that a Section 354A (Outraging Modesty of a Woman) case can only be filed against a man and not against a woman. 

He further argued that Section 67A of the IT Act was not applicable as Sherlyn Chopra herself uploaded the video.

In her plea, Rakhi has also stated that a careful perusal of the FIR by itself indicates that no confidence can be generated with respect to the genuineness of the said FIR.

“The Petitioner states that without going into the merits of the matter, a careful perusal of the FIR by itself indicates that no confidence can be generated in respect of the genuineness of the said FIR and in any case, as the Petitioner and the Respondent no.2 have amicably resolved all the disputes however pendency of the present F.I.R is nothing but just a tactic played by the respondent no.2 to waste the precious time of the court and also to be highlighted in the media,” the plea states.

Rakhi has sought quashing of the cases filed against her and also the chargesheet filed by the police on October 18, 2023

Case title: Rakhi Sawant vs State of Maharashtra & Anr.