Nearly six weeks after television writer-producer Vinta Nanda went to town accusing him of sexually violating her 19 years ago, veteran actor Alok Nath — known his on-screen “Sanskari Babuji” image — was on Wednesday booked for alleged rape and unnatural sex on the basis of a complaint lodged against him by Nanda.
Acting on a formal complaint lodged by Nanda against the veteran actor on October 17, the Oshiwara police station registered an FIR against 62-year-old Alok Nath under sections 376 (rape) and 377 ( unnatural sex) of Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Confirming the development, a senior police officer investigating the case said: “Alok Nath has been booked for rape under sections 376 and 377 of IPC”.
After writing a long, heart-wrenching Facebook post on October 8 alleging that Alok Nath had sexually violated her 19 years ago, Nanda had lodged a complaint with the Oshiwara police station on October 17. In her complaint, Nanda had alleged that she had raped by the actor after spiking her drink. “The victim’s statement was recorded formally by police on Tuesday evening,” Nanda’s lawyer Dhruti Kapadia said.
Expressing her satisfaction over the development, Nanda said in a statement: “The moment I penned the truth on Facebook on 8th October 2018, it felt like I had released myself from the prison of fear. Today, I am glad the FIR has been finally lodged. I trust the Mumbai Police”.
“I know that when things have finally come this far, justice will prevail. I have full faith and confidence in the country’s judiciary,” Nanda added.
It may be recalled that in her lengthy Facebook post that she wrote on October 8 amid a series of allegations of sexual harassment made by prominent women as part of a “Me Too” movement unleashed in the social media, Nanda did not actually name Alok Nath but said that “the predator in question here is the actor par excellence who is known as the most #Sanskaari (Cultured) person in the film and television industry”.
Nanda, who subsequently confirmed that it was Alok Nath whom she had referred to in her post, had stated: “I have waited for this moment to come for 19 years....He was an alcoholic, shameless and obnoxious but he was also the television star of that decade, so not only was he forgiven for all his bad behaviour, many of the guys would also egg him on to be his worst”. She had also alleged that the actor even harassed the show’s lead actress who was not interested in him.
Recalling the events that followed after she had left a party at Alok Nath’s house at 2 am 19 years ago, Nanda wrote: “I started to walk home on the empty streets... Midway I was accosted by this man who was driving his own car and he asked me to sit in it and said he would drop me home. I trusted him and sat in his car.
“I have faint memory after that. I can remember more liquor being poured into my mouth and I remember being violated endlessly. When I woke up the next afternoon, I was in pain. I hadn’t just been raped, I was taken to my own house and had been brutalised.
“I couldn’t get up for my bed. I told some of my friends but everybody advised me to forget about it and move on,” she wrote and went onto narrate some more unpleasant experiences with Alok Nath subsequently.
On his part, actor Alok Nath initially dismissed Nanda’s charge against him as “absurd” as he “made her what she is”. “Kuch to log kahenge (People will say something). Neither I am denying this nor do I agree with it. It (rape) must have happened, but someone else would have done it. Well, I do not want to talk much about it. As for the matter, if it has come out, it will be stretched,” Alok Nath had told ABP News.
However, a week after Nanda wrote a Facebook post accused him of raping her under sedation, Alok Nath filed a civil suit against writer-director Vinta Nanda in a city suburban court here in connection with her rape accusations against him and demanded an apology and compensation of Re 1 as damages from him.
In another application filed separately before the Andheri Metropolitan Magistrate Alok Nath and his wife Ashu sought a direction to the suburban Amboli police station to take cognisance of the letter sent by them seeking defamation proceedings against Nanda.
Alok Nath, who was after Nanda’s FB post accused of sexual harassment by two other women, was expelled from the Cine & TV Artists Association (CINTAA) early this month.
“In view of the various allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct against Mr. Alok Nath, after due diligence and consideration, the Exec. Committee of #cintaa has decided to expel him from the Association,” the CINTAA said in a statement.