HC quashes rape case against 69-year-old Pune politician, says complaint not genuine

The Bombay High Court quashed a 2014 rape case against former Daund council president, citing an 18-year delay and lack of genuine evidence.

MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Wednesday quashed a rape case registered against a former Daund municipal council president in 2014, observing that the police complaint was lodged 18 years after the alleged incident and seemed to be motivated by mala fide intentions.

Bombay High Court at Fort, in Mumbai, India (Photo by HT Archives) (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

“There is a delay of 18 years in lodging the crime. In our view, the complaint is not genuine and is lodged with mala fide intention,” said the division bench of justice AS Gadkari and justice Rajesh Patil while striking down the criminal case against Premsukh Kisandas Kataria, 69.

The case against Kataria was registered on July 31, 2014, under sections 376 (rape), 417 (cheating), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. The complainant alleged that Kataria maintained physical relations with and sexually exploited her after promising to marry her and financially assist with her son’s school fees. Kataria, the then secretary of the school trust, repeatedly sexually assaulted the woman starting from 1996 and threatened to throw her son out of the school if she spoke out, as per the complaint. The relationship resulted in the woman giving birth to a girl child on February 17, 1999, and a boy child on February 6, 2001. After this, Kataria allegedly continued sexually assaulting her and allegedly passed casteist remarks against her.

Advocate Rucheeta Dhuru, appearing for Kataria, stated that the complaint was fuelled with ulterior motives to ruin his political career as he had been elected as the Councillor of Daund Municipal Council for six terms and was also the President of the Municipal Council until August 6, 2014.

Kataria submitted that the woman, between 2011 and 2012, had also filed a complaint under the Domestic Violence (DV) Act and the CrPC for maintenance against him before the Pune magistrate court. Kataria challenged both the proceedings and the bench passed orders in Kataria’s favour.

On the other hand, advocate Pranita Hingmire argued that Kataria’s refusal to marry the woman during earlier proceedings proved that the sexual relations were without her consent. She further submitted that Katarai’s opposition to a DNA test established that her two children were born out of the relationship.

The court noted that the woman had earlier filed for maintenance and also for protection under the DV Act, claiming that she was Kataria’s wife. However, later her allegation of rape does not hold much relevance or substance as both allegations are contradictory to each other and therefore, it cannot stand.

“Either it can be a case where the complainant claims that the petitioner is married to her, or she claims that he, by using his authoritative position, has raped her,” the court said. It added that there were no sufficient grounds or reasons to continue the proceedings. “Except bald statements that the accused had committed the offence, there is not even an iota of material to substantiate the basic allegation,” the court said while striking down the FIR.