Mumbai: Actor Alok Nath was on Saturday granted anticipatory bail by a court here on Saturday in an alleged rape case filed by writer-director Vinta Nanda.
The City Civil and Sessions Court at Dindoshi here heard Nath’s plea seeking protection from arrest following an FIR from Nanda, who has claimed he raped her 19 years ago, said official sources.
The alleged victim had lodged the complaint with Oshiwara Police on October 17 last year after Nath hit back by filing a defamation case against her in a Mumbai Magistrate Court.
Nath had denied all the allegations levelled by the Nanda and lodged the defamation case demanding Re. 1 as damages and a written apology from her.
Known for his ‘sanskaari’ (cultured) image on the big screen, Nath was expelled from the Cine and TV Artistes Association last year after the rape charges came to the fore.
It was in October that Nanda, who produced “Tara”, had shared her ordeal with Nath through a long Facebook post, amid the #MeToo movement wave that hit India.
Nanda wrote that she was allegedly sexually assaulted more than once by Nath after he was removed from the TV show for misbehaving with its lead actress, Navneet Nishan.
Following Nanda’s allegations, actresses Sandhya Mridul and Deepika Amin backed her and shared their own experiences of being allegedly harassed by Nath.
Following this, Nath’s wife submitted a complaint before a magistrate’s court, seeking that an FIR be registered against Nanda for allegedly defaming her husband. Nanda then filed a police complaint against Nath mentioning her allegations in detail.
In the last week of October, a sessions judge had rejected Nath’s plea urging the court to restrain Nanda from giving interviews about her rape allegations. Meanwhile, the Cine and TV Artistes’ Association had served Nath a show cause notice and decided to expel him from the ranks after he allegedly failed to appear before the Internal Complaints Committee that was investigating Nanda’s allegations.
About a month after Nanda’s complaint to the police, Nath was booked for rape. A case under IPC sections 376 (rape) and 377 (unnatural offences) was registered against Nath, said police.
