Top Bollywood film producer Jeetendra sexually assaulted 'cousin' in a hotel room, claims report

A woman, who is said to be related to Bollywood star Jeetendra, has filed a sexual assault complaint against the actor-turned-producer. In the report, the cousin of the Indian actor claimed that the incident had taken place 47 years ago when she was 18 and Jeetendra was 28 years old.

The complaint was registered in the north Indian state of Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday (7 February), and the allegations came in the form of a two-page letter to the DGP of the state. As per reports, the woman – whose name has not been disclosed – sought to register a First Information Report (FIR) against the actor, under his given name of Ravi Kapoor.

Opening up about the alleged abuse in January 1971, the complainant in her report stated that the actor, now 75, had driven her to Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, where he was shooting for one of his films.

However, until that day the two were neither friendly nor did they speak about his films, per reports.

On reaching the city, however, the victim claimed that Jeetendra and she were to share a hotel room with separate beds, but the situation turned out differently.

"[The actor] returned to the room and joined the two beds together, while I was still asleep. As I rested on my side, facing the wall, he entered the bed and mounted me from behind with his penis erect," claimed the actor's cousin, adding that Jeetendra "smelled strongly of alcohol".

The woman further stated that after the ordeal, the actor sent her back to her home in New Delhi.

The next day, he asked his driver to buy me some clothes and drop me back to New Delhi," she added.

The sexual abuse complaint against the Indian film icon comes at a time when the globally-charged #MeToo campaign is in full swing, and as per the woman's counsel, she was encouraged by this anti-sexual harassment movement.

The woman filed the complaint to get a "closure and healing for the indelible marks left on her soul due to the sexual abuse and the mental trauma suffered for years after the sexual abuse".

The allegations, however, have been refuted by Jeetendra's lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee, who added that the "baseless, ridiculous or fabricated claims" are made to defame the actor "with a hidden personal agenda".

"In any event the timing of this baseless complaint seems to be nothing but a miserable effort made by a jealous competitor to disrupt the business activities of my client and his esteemed company. Such efforts are therefore in all fairness treated with the contempt it truly deserves," the actor's lawyer said.