Bollywood actor Jeetendra was accused of sexually harassing his cousin, who has come forward to file a police complaint 47 years after the alleged incident.
Jeetendra, whose real name is Ravi Kapoor, is the son of the victim’s father’s sister.
The victim made the allegation on Wednesday in a police complaint filed with Himachal Pradesh’s Director General of Police, reports Hindustan Times citing IANS.
As per the complaint, the incident took place in January 1971, when the victim was 18 and Jeetendra was 28. It happened when he “arranged” for the victim to join him from New Delhi to Shimla on the set of his movie without the complainant’s “awareness”.
The victim has claimed that on the night they reached Shimla, Jeetendra returned to the room in an inebriated state, joined the two separate beds and sexually assaulted her.
The allegation comes amid the #MeToo campaign as part of which women have come out about facing sexual abuse at the hands of powerful men. While several ladies have accused Hollywood’s powerful men, the Hindi film industry -- while admitting the prevalence of abuse -- have not named and shamed as openly.
A statement issued by his lawyer said Jeetendra categorically denies any such incident took place. “..Such baseless, ridiculous and fabricated claims cannot be entertained by any Court of law or the law enforcement agencies after a span of almost 50 years. The Statute has provided a justice delivery system through the Courts, and the Limitation Act 1963 was specifically enacted to ensure that all genuine complaints are made within a maximum time limit of three years, so that a proper investigation is carried out and timely justice is delivered,” the statement issued by advocate Rizwan Siddiquee said.
“..the timing of this baseless complaint seems to be nothing but a miserable effort made by a jealous competitor to disrupt the business activities of my client and his esteemed company,” the statement said.
Jeetendra, now 75, is a well-known name in the Hindi film industry. He is also a film producer, and has daughter Ekta and son Tusshar with wife Shobhaa.