The MIDC (Bombay) police on August 6 arrested share broker and trader Jignesh Mehta on charges of sexually assaulting a 25-year-old struggling actress the previous night in a hotel at Andheri (East) in Bombay. The police said that Mehta allegedly committed the offence after calling the lady to the hotel for dinner and later to the room on August 5, on the pretext that he knew many Bollywood producers and hence would get her work. He was arrested from the hotel itself after his attempt to sexually assault the actress.
Jignesh Mehta was produced before a local court on August 6 and was released on bail. The actress will file an appeal before the court to explain that the police neither took her matter seriously nor applied stringent sections of the Indian Penal Code. Mehta was booked under IPC sections 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman), 354B (any man who assaults or uses criminal force on any woman or abets such act with the intention of disrobing or compelling her to be naked), and 506 (criminal intimidation).
The hotel staff are said to have saved the actress after hearing her screams. The staff also caught Mehta and handed him over to the police. A friend of the stock broker was also present in the room when Mehta is alleged to have tried to pull off the struggling actress’ clothes.