New Delhi. Famous Bollywood film actress Shilpa Shetty has got a big relief from Rajasthan High Court today. The court has rejected the complaint filed against Shilpa Shetty under SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act). Shilpa was accused of using the word Bhangi during a TV interview in 2013. Actor Salman Khan was also present in this interview. Complainant Ashok Panwar had alleged that he saw an interview of two film actors Shilpa Raj Kundra and Salman Khan on TV, in which they had used the word Bhangi. Ashok Panwar said that the use of this word has allegedly hurt the sentiments of the people of Valmiki community.
On the basis of this complaint of the complainant, the relevant FIR was registered and investigation started. In the court, the defense lawyer argued that the SC-ST Act did not apply because there was no intention to insult on the basis of caste in the alleged comments. Thus this FIR is not legally justified and is an abuse of process. On this, the court said that there is no allegation against the actress which is worthy of continuing with the present complaint and hence the case was quashed.
Justice Arun Monga of the High Court said that in view of the absence of necessary evidence for offenses under Section 153A of the IPC, failure to comply with the mandatory procedural considerations under Section 196 CrPC and lack of applicability of the SC-ST Act, it is clear that This FIR is illegal and deserves to be quashed. The allegations neither establish the statutory elements of the offenses cited nor provide any basis for criminal proceedings against the petitioner.
