HC stays probe against Jeetendra in molestation case

SHIMLA : The Himachal Pradesh high court stayed probe in the molestation case registered against veteran Bollywood actor Jeetendra.

Jeetendra filed a plea in the HC seeking stay on the probe initiated after an FIR was registered against him last month. Justice Ajay Mohan Goel, while hearing the petition, stayed further probe on this matter.

The 75-year-old actor was booked by Shimla police on charges of molestation on his cousin’s complaint.

The case has been filed under Section 354 (assault to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the IPC that entails maximum sentence of two-year jail.

Rubbishing the charges, Jeetendra’s counsel Rizwan Siddiquee in a statement earlier said, “Foremost my client (Jeetendra) specifically and categorically denies any such incident.”

He claimed that 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.

“Such efforts are, therefore, in all fairness treated with the contempt it truly deserves,” Siddique said.

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 in Shimla on the set of his movie.