CAN SANDEEP KUMAR BE BOOKED FOR CRIMINAL ACT?

NEW DELHI: A complaint filed by a delegation of BJP and Akali leaders led by west Delhi MP Parvesh Verma in connection with former Delhi minister Sandeep Kumar’s “objectionable” CD row has been forwarded to the crime branch.

The branch has constituted a special team to verify the authenticity of the CD, which Sandeep Kumar says is doctored.

The team will look into the BJP leaders’ allegations that Kumar, Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia sat on the CD for over 15 days.

HT asked experts if Kumar can be booked for a criminal act and if the case will stand in court.

Criminal lawyer Arjun Diwan said no criminal case can be made out against Kumar. A personal act behind closed doors is not a crime. In fact, the man who leaked the video with an intention to make it public is liable for punishment, he said.

“Recording a personal video is not a crime but circulating or publishing it on a public platform with an intention to tarnish one’s image amounts to crime. In the present situation, no case can be made out against him (Kumar),” he said.

A case can be made only if the woman in the video approaches police or court and says Kumar recorded it without her knowledge. Kumar then may be booked under Section 354C - filming a woman during a private act and for representing a woman in an indecent way, outraging her modesty.