Strange are the ways of Tinsel Town. In a classic Bollywood style of ‘tables-have-turned’, after almost a year, Shiney Ahuja’s 20-year-old domestic maid now confesses that the actor did not rape her and that she had filed false charges against him on the advice of a woman who got her the job in Ahuja’s residence in Mumbai.
Shiney Ahuja was arrested on 14th June, 2009 on the charges of raping his domestic maid. He spent three months in jail before being released on bail on 1st October, 2009. While granting bail, the court had imposed strict terms, ordering Ahuja to live with his family in Delhi until the trial started in Mumbai, not to influence the witnesses, deposit his passport with the police, and report regularly to a nearby police station while in the capital.
Following a nationwide furor over the incident and intervention by the National Commission of Women, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan had ordered the transfer of the case from a regular court to a fast track court to ensure speedy justice for the victim.
The 20-year-old victim made the statement last week before a special judge in a fast track court in Sewri where Shiney’s “in-camera” trial is currently under way. The court has declared her hostile after hearing to her verdict and she may be punished for perjury if the court deems fit. However, the statements of 12 other witnesses, forensic reports and other documentary evidence are yet to be presented.
All this while his wife and family in Delhi maintained stand claiming that he was innocent.
The new developments in the case bring much respite to the makers of Shiney’s pending films.
The next hearing for Shiney’s case has been scheduled for 15th September, 2010.
