Court refuses to direct police TO file FIR AGAINST GUJARAT MP

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Thursday refused to direct the city police to file an FIR against Gujarat MP K C Patel on allegations of rape by a woman lawyer here, saying she had not come before it with clean hands.

Metropolitan Magistrate Harvinder Singh also said she failed to answer various queries put forward by it.

The woman is currently arrested in a separate case filed by Patel that he was honey trapped and blackmailed by her.

The court had on May 12 asked the counsel for the woman to apprise it on whether there were similar complaints filed by her against others, as argued by public prosecutor Atul Kumar Shrivastava.

However, her counsel Shahid Anwar said there was no need to answer such questions at this stage.

While opposing the woman’s application, Shrivastava had claimed that she had a habit of filing cases of sexual offence against other parliamentarians and police officers for “extortion”.

He had also told the court that the woman had first approached the police for registration of a rape case against Patel, but later retracted her allegations.

The submissions were made by the police in an Action Taken Report (ATR) filed in pursuance to the court order asking them to examine the case since when the woman had approached it for registration of FIR against Patel.

However, during the intervening period, she moved an application before the investigators to retract her allegations against Patel, a sitting BJP Lok Sabha MP from Valsad in Gujarat, the police said.

The MP, in the meantime, had also approached the police which arrested the woman, who is now in judicial custody.

The police, in the ATR, said that in the complaints filed against others as well, the woman had later retracted her claims since her intention was only to extort money.

The defence counsel had alleged that the politician was misusing the police and his client was arrested in a false case filed by the MP.

The court had last month sought an ATR from the SHO of North Avenue Police Station here on the woman’s allegations.

She had approached the court alleging that the police did not cooperate and refused to lodge the FIR on her complaint.

She had alleged that she was raped by the politician several times at his official residence and other places and added that the MP had threatened her of dire consequences if she did not maintain silence.

However, the woman was arrested by the Delhi Police on May 2 on the MP’S complaint that the woman had honeytrapped him and demanded Rs 5 crore. He had alleged that he was drugged and obscene videos and photos were shot by the woman who had threatened him to file a rape case.