Bollywood actor Alok Nath has been granted relief on a surety bond of Rs 5 lakh by the Additional Sessions Court Judge S S Oza. In its order, the judge noted that the allegation raised by the complainant might have been inspired by her “unrequited and un-reciprocated love” for Nath. “The duo was working in the production unit of a television serial (in Mumbai) when they met Alok Nath in mid-80s, and a fast friendship developed between the three of them. He (Nath) proposed to Ashu in 1987 and they got married,” the court said in the order.
Earlier, the sessions court, while granting a pre-arrest bail to the Bollywood actor last week observed, that the rape case against Alok Nath was lodged on the basis of a “defamatory” and “false” report of complainant Vinta Nanda. “The offence against the actor has been registered on the basis of patently defamatory, false, malicious, derogatory and imaginary report of the first informant or complainant (Nanda),” the judge noted.
The Judge said in his order, “It is to be noted that the complainant remembers the entire incident but does not remember the date and month of the incident. In view of all these facts, the possibility cannot be ruled out that the applicant has falsely been enroped in the crime.’
It was in October 2018, the screenwriter had shared her experience on social media when MeToo movement was at its peak, without naming Nath. She later filed a complaint with the Oshiwara police in Mumbai stating that Nath raped her in her house in 1998 after spiking her drink. Nath, 62, was booked in November under section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).