Rejecting outright the reason cited by Salman Khan for not appearing before it in connection with his “felt like a raped woman” remark, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women (MSCW) on Wednesday issued fresh summons to the Bollywood actor and directed him to appear before it on July 7.
Salman, who was to have appeared before the MSCW at 2 pm on Wednesday to offer his personal explanation over his remark, failed to turn up before the Commission.
Instead, the actor sent a legal response to the MSCW, citing double jeopardy, a procedural defence that forbids a defendant from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges in the same case and saying that the matter relating to his controversial comment was before the National Commission for Women (NCW) that the matter cannot be taken up by the State Commission.
However, the MSCW rejected the actor’s stand, saying that it had “concurrent powers” to invoke section 10 (2) of Maharashtra State Commission for Women Act, 1993 under which it has powers to summon a person from any part of the State and examine him on oath or take recourse to any other sections to initiate proceedings against the person, who has violated the provisions of this Act.
Confirming that the State Commission had issued fresh summons to Salman after rejecting his contention that the MSCW could not deliberate on an issue which is under the NCW, MSCW chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar told The Pioneer in the evening: “At the Commission, we deliberated on the stand taken by the actor for his disinclination to appear before us. We have rejected the actor’s contention on the ground that our commission has been vested with concurrent powers under the Commission to deal with issues relating to a violation under the State Act, even when the matter is under the consideration of the NCW. We are dealing with a matter that relates to the State and the person, whom we are summoning belongs to our State”.
“Under the law, the actor cannot take the stand that he has taken. That’s why we have issued fresh summons to appear before the Commission along with his lawyer on July 7,” Rahatkar said.
One of the main objectives behind the setting up of the MSCW is to further the fundamental rights guaranteed by Articles, 14, 15 and 16 of the Constitution of India with respect to women and, to give effect to the Directive Principle of State Policy and in particular those enshrined in Articles 38, 39, 39A and 42 of the Constitution to improve the status and dignity of women in the society, to investigate into and take or suggest suitable remedial measures against practices derogatory to women.
On June 22, the MSCW had summoned the Bollywood actor to appear before it at 2 pm on June 29 and offer his personal explanation over his “felt like a raped woman” remark. The summons were issued to the actor a day after the NCW sought an explanation from the actor for his controversial remark.
The MSCW’s summons to 50-year-old actor had followed public uproar over the “insensitive” remark that he had made during the course of an interview that he gave to a Bollywood website as part of the promotion of his film “Sultan”, which is due to release on July 6. Salman had said that the shooting of wrestling bouts was so gruelling that he felt like a “raped woman” while he would walk out of the ring after the shoot.
"While shooting, during those six hours, there'd be so much of lifting and thrusting on the ground involved. That was tough for me because if I was lifting, I'd have to lift the same 120-kilo guy 10 times for 10 different angles. And likewise, get thrown that many times on the ground. This act is not repeated that many times in the real fights in the ring... "When I used to walk out of the ring, after the shoot, I used to feel like a raped woman. I couldn't walk straight," the actor had said in the interview.
Taking suo motu cognizance of Salman "irresponsible and callous" remark, the National Commission for Women (NCW) had on June 21 shot off a letter to the actor seeking his explanation for his remark in seven days and also warning him that he would be summoned before the commission if failed to provide a satisfactory explanation.
Meanwhile, NCW chairperson lalitha Kumaramangalam said in New Delhi on Wednesday that in his reply Salman was “not apologetic” and that the panel was examining its mandate to deal with such instances and the legalities involved.
“Salman Khan has sent a reply and it is not apologetic in tenor. We now need to decide what we are going to do next. We have to look at both what comes under our mandate and what are the legalities involved... “We are not going to give out the details of Salman Khan’s reply now. We need to first go through it in detail, along with our lawyers. Only then will both his reply and what we are going to do next will be made public,” she said.
The reply was e-mailed to NCW through Salman’s lawyer last evening, while the NCW notice was sent directly to the actor’s residence.
“The reply has come from his lawyer, which means it is a legal reply. So we can’t just reply off the cuff,” Kumaramangalam said.