Mumbai court dismisses Tanushree Dutta’s complaint against Nana Patekar in #MeToo Case

A Mumbai court on Friday refused to acknowledge actress Tanushree Dutta’s complaint of sexual harassment against veteran actor Nana Patekar and others associated with the 2008 film Horn Ok Pleasss. The ruling came as a setback for Dutta, who had challenged the relief granted to Patekar in the #MeToo case she had filed.

Tanushree Dutta, a well-known advocate for India’s #MeToo movement, publicly accused Nana Patekar in 2018 of inappropriate behavior during the filming of a special song in Horn Ok Pleasss back in 2008. Following her public statement, she formally lodged a First Information Report (FIR) at the Oshiwara Police Station in Mumbai in October 2018. Her complaint also included allegations of continued harassment in 2018, years after the initial incident.

After investigating Dutta’s allegations, the Mumbai police submitted a ‘B-summary’ (closure) report in 2019, citing a lack of substantial evidence against Nana Patekar, choreographer Ganesh Acharya, producer Samee Siddiqui, and director Rakesh Sarang. In response, Dutta filed a protest petition in December 2019, requesting further investigation into the matter.

On Friday, Judicial Magistrate First Class NV Bansal, presiding at the Railway Court in Andheri, ruled that Dutta’s complaint could not be legally entertained due to time constraints. The court referenced Section 468 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which limits the prosecution period for specific offenses. Since the allegations were related to Section 354 of the Indian Penal Code (outraging a woman’s modesty), and the legal time limit for filing such complaints was three years (before the 2013 amendment), the court found that Dutta’s case, filed over a decade later, was ineligible for consideration.

The magistrate further stated that there was no compelling reason to overlook this legal restriction or to allow further delays in the interest of justice. The court also clarified that it was not making any judgment on whether the allegations were true or false but was bound by the legal time limits.

With this ruling, the B-summary report submitted by the Mumbai police remains valid, officially closing the case. This decision marks the end of Dutta’s legal battle against Patekar regarding this specific complaint.