Mumbai police lodges FIR against Nana, three others; starts probe

Mumbai police has lodged an FIR against actor Nana Patekar and three others on the basis of actor Tanushree Dutta's complaint of sexual harassment on the sets of a 2008 film and begun investigations, her lawyer said on Thursday.

The FIR in the 10-year old case was lodged under Sections 353 and 503 of the Indian Penal Code on Wednesday night.

"The FIR was lodged against Nana Patekar, choreographer Ganesh Acharya, film's producer Samee Siddiqui and director Rakesh Sarang. Now, the police is investigating. These people will have to appear before police, and if they don't, they will be arrested," Tanushree's lawyer Nitin Satpute told IANS.

Satpute said Tanushree has been provided police security at the residential building where her home is.

"Before summoning the accused, we will record the statements of other witnesses in the case on the incident in question," a police officer said.

Satpute said that at her insistence, police on Thursday recorded Dutta's statement in English instead of Marathi as she did not want a repeat of what happened 10 years back.

In 2008, Tanushree's father Tapan Kumar Dutta had lodged a complaint with the Oshiwara Police but no progress was achieved.

The lawyer also submitted a 40-page statement on the alleged incident to police and Maharashtra State Women's Commission (MSWC).

"After the incident, I was in tremendous shock, I suffered psychological trauma, was unable to take up work, suffered huge monetary losses running in crores and therefore I decided to take action through the film industry by lodging a written complaint with the Cine and TV Artistes Association. The association decided the matter and passed the order without considering my complaint for apology," Tanushree's police complaint said.

Besides Nana Patekar, she has also named some Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers who allegedly tried to attack her and damaged her vehicle last week.

Tanushree first spoke about Nana's misbehaviour in 2008. Two weeks ago she recounted her experience in the wake of the global #MeToo movement.

She said that she was sexually harassed by the actor during the shooting of a dance sequence for film "Horn Ok Pleasss" at the Filmistan Studio here. She said she was forced into silence a decade ago.

Tanushree's renewed her allegation against Nana has sparked a #MeToo firestorm in India, with different women coming forward to share their own sexual harassment experiences at their workplaces in the film and entertainment and media industry, and even against a former Sri Lankan cricketer and one still playing the sport.

--IANS

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