The Bombay High Court recently granted bail to a man accused of raping and sexually harassing his ex-wife who has dyslexia.
They had got married in June 2003, and have two children. The woman alleged that on June 15, 2017, her ex-husband Jignesh Dangarwala took her out for a walk. Then Mr. Dangarwala’s friend Rajiv came in a car and her husband made her sit in the front seat with Mr. Rajiv.
She said she was reluctant and she was forced to sit in the car, and then Mr. Rajiv started touching her indecently. She alleged that Mr. Rajiv then took both of them to his house in Malad and had forced intercourse with her. When she came out of the room and told her ex-husband about it, he told her not to tell anyone and assured her that this would not happen again.
An FIR was lodged by the woman against her ex-husband at Samata Nagar police station on December 17, 2019, describing sexual harassment incidents with different persons named as Ravi alias Rohit and Tushar at Borivali in October 2018 and at Dahisar in February 2019. She also claimed to have complained about the incidents to her father-in-law but he did not pay any heed and uttered indecent words to her.
Mr. Dangarwala was charged with Sections 376 (punishment for rape), 376 E (punishment for repeat offenders), 354 (assault of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 354 A (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 354 C (voyeurism), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
She defended the delay in registering the FIR as she was undergoing some treatment at a hospital for her pain in knees and waist. She argued that she had dyslexia and her ex-husband who she left in August 2019 was in a dominant position and had forced her to indulge in such activity.
A single judge Bench of Justice S.V. Kotwal took into account that Mr. Tushar and Mr. Ravi had been granted bail, and directed that Mr. Dangarwala be released on bail on furnishing a PR bond of ₹25,000.
