HC asks actor to file undertaking saying he won’t assault again

The Bombay high court on Thursday said it was willing to quash the criminal case against actor Armaan Kohli with the consent of the complainant – his live-in partner Neeru Randhawa– provided he files an affidavit expressing remorse about the assault and submits an undertaking that he will not repeat such acts.

“Ultimately, we are also concerned with what happens in the society,” said the division bench of Justice RM Savant and Justice Revati Mohite-Dere. “It can’t be so mechanical that somebody walks in and we quash the proceedings. Your client will have to do something more than this (merely filing a petition) …express regret, remorse about the incident and give an undertaking,” the judges told Kohli’s lawyer, Satish Maneshinde. Maneshinde accepted the suggestion and sought a day’s time to file the affidavit. Accordingly, the court has posted Kohli’s petition for further hearing on Friday.

The Santacruz police had on June 3 registered a case against Kohli after recording Randhawa’s statement who was getting treated for her injuries at a hospital. She had alleged that the actor – her live-in partner for more than three-and-half years –abused her, pushed her down the stairs and also banged her head on the floor during an argument over some financial matters. She sustained serious injuries to her forehead.

Kohli was booked under sections 323, 326, 504 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code. The actor was eventually arrested in Lonavla on Tuesday. He was presented before a metropolitan magistrate at Bandra on Wednesday, which remanded him in judicial custody and refused to release him on bail.

In the meanwhile, with the intervention of family members, Kohli and Randhawa resolved the issue amicably, and as stated by Kohli in his petition, Randhawa agreed not to pursue her complaint further. Accordingly, she submitted a letter to that effect to Santacruz police station on June 6.