Bollywood director, Mahmood Farooqui has been taken into custody on charges of rape of a 30 year old US scholar. On June 29, police had filed a charge sheet against Farooqui alleging that he had raped the research scholar from Colombia University at his Sukhdev Vihar house in south Delhi on March 28. The woman has recorded her statement under Section 164 CrPC before a magistrate.
The woman first met Farooqui in 2014 through a mutual friend. He allegedly assaulted her at his house where he invited her at a party. While waiting for his wife to arrive he mistreated the woman. Soon after his wife came, the woman left without saying a word. All of this happened on March 28 this year. She went back to US 10 days later. However after three months she came back and filed an FIR against Farooqui.
In her statement, Farooqui’s wife Anusha Rizvi who co-directed Peepli Live said, “A complaint has been registered against Mahmood Farooqui. The moment he heard about it he presented himself at the concerned police station. He was thereafter taken into custody. The complaint is manipulated and false.
We don’t want to make any further comments on the matter because the case is under investigation. We will wait for the court’s decision where the actual truth of the matter will come out. In the meanwhile we are thankful for the show of support from friends, colleagues and well-wishers. We are determined to fight this till the reality is presented before the people. We are very sure of it.”
Farooqui has been critically acclaimed for his film making skills and has reinvented Dastangoi filmmaking in India. His movie Peepli Live also won critical acclaim.
Right now he is in judicial custody where he will remain for 10 days. The woman is being questioned right now and forensic research is going on. However, many people have questioned the credibility of the woman’s words due to the time difference between the incident and the complaint. Only time will tell the truth.
