Mika Singh has recently approached before the Bombay High Court seeking quashing of a molestation lawsuit filed in 2006 against him by actor and model Rakhi Sawant.
Singh claimed that the two had amicably and definitively resolved their disputes and, as a result, requested the quashing of the FIR and chargesheet with Sawant’s consent.
A division bench of Justices AS Gadkari and PD Naik was told by the Sawant’s lawyer, advocate Ayush Pasbola, that Sawant’s affidavit had been misplaced by the High Court registry and was thus untraceable.
“She (Sawant) is preoccupied with professional obligations. However, because the two have settled their differences, she has no objection to the quashing of the FIR that she had filed,” her counsel stated.
Sawant was given a week to file a new affidavit by the bench.
The FIR was filed on June 11, 2006, after the incident occurred at Singh’s birthday party.
Singh allegedly forcibly kissed Sawant during his birthday party at a restaurant in Mumbai’s outskirts.
The purported incident was extensively reported with the video footage and still images of the party at the time when the alleged incident took place.
According to the complaint, Singh was charged with sections 354 (molestation) and 323 (assault) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Singh had been missing for a few days following the event. On June 17, 2006, he approached to a Sessions Court for anticipatory bail, which was granted.
Singh asserted in his plea before the High Court that the two parties had settled their issue amongst themselves, and Sawant had even sworn on an affidavit that she had no problem with the granting of relief mentioned in the plea.
Singh’s lawyer, Falguni Brahmabhat, told the court that the case has been in limbo for the previous 17 years.
“Although a chargesheet has been filed against the accused (Singh), charges have yet to be framed. Singh and Sawant have buried the hatchet, resolved their issues, and are now friends,” she told the Court.
The petition will be heard on April 17.
