Mumbai court acquits film director Subhash Kapoor in sexual harassment case

A Mumbai court has acquitted film director Subhash Kapoor in a 2014 sexual harassment case by observing silence on the part of a woman who is mature and educated to raise a complaint against the accused and delay in filing FIR created doubt about the truthfulness of the incident.

The FIR in the case was filed in 2014 on the complaint of the woman, a journalist, who had claimed the director had, in May 2012, misbehaved with her in her home.

Kapoor was acquitted by Metropolitan Magistrate (Andheri) AI Sheikh on December 12, though the detailed order was made available on Saturday.

The court, in its order, said the complainant did not raise any alarm at the time of the incident when she could have shouted for help, and the prosecution had also failed to explain why she and her kin and friends had kept themselves away from taking action against the accused.

The court said the complainant was a well educated and mature woman who had worked in a leading newspaper and entertainment channel, adding in such a situation silence on the part of the informant to raise any complaint against the accused about the incident creates the doubt about the truthfulness in the story.