Rape Case: Delhi Special Court Stays Summons against BJP Leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain

A Delhi special court has stayed the summons issued against BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain by a magisterial court in response to a woman’s complaint alleging rape and criminal intimidation.

Special Judge M. K. Nagpal has granted this order following a revision petition submitted by Hussain challenging the magisterial court’s directive to appear before it on October 20. The judge, in an order dated October 17, has also issued a notice to the complainant regarding the petition and has requested her response by November 8.

The judge mentioned, “In view of the submissions being made by counsel representing the petitioner, it is also being directed that till then, the operation of the impugned order and further proceedings in the case shall remain stayed.”

Hussain’s petition contends that the metropolitan magistrate based the cognizance of the offenses solely on a statement under section 164 CrPC provided by the prosecutrix, even though there is ample other oral and documentary evidence on record indicating that no such incident of intoxication or rape involving the prosecutrix took place.

Previously, the magisterial court had acknowledged the alleged offense and instructed the former Union minister to appear before it on October 20. The complainant alleged that Hussain administered an intoxicant and subsequently raped her at a farmhouse in the national capital in April 2018.

The police had filed a report urging the court to cancel the FIR. However, in an order issued on October 10, the judge dismissed the police report, asserting that the issues raised by the investigating officer in the cancellation report could be addressed during a trial. The judge took cognizance of the alleged offenses, which include various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), such as sections 376 (rape) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

In January, the Supreme Court had dismissed Hussain’s plea contesting a Delhi High Court order for the lodging of a First Information Report (FIR) and the initiation of an investigation. The Supreme Court declined to interfere with the high court’s order and noted that all legal remedies were available to Hussain.

The high court, on August 17 of the previous year, had dismissed Hussain’s challenge to a trial court’s order instructing the Delhi Police to register an FIR against him, affirming that there was no impropriety in the 2018 order.

In 2018, a woman from Delhi had approached a lower court seeking the registration of an FIR against Hussain for alleged rape, a charge that the BJP leader had refuted. On July 7, 2018, a magisterial court had ordered the registration of an FIR against Hussain, concluding that a cognizable offense was discernible from the complaint. This order had been challenged by the BJP leader in a sessions court, which had rejected his plea.