Cops drop porn CD case against Anara

The disclosure, which came during teh hearing of a PIL filed by a Shiv Sena activist Amit Chouhan today, prompted the division bench comprising Chief Justice S.N. Jha and Justice S.K. Gupta, to observe that the woman ‘‘deserved to be compensated’’.

As the Crime Branch prayed the court to close the case in view of the report of a Hyderabad based Forensic Science Lab giving Gupta a clean chit, th petitioner’s counsels stressed on referring the matter to CBI in view of the faulty investigations carried out earlier. While one of the counsel described the crime branch recommendation as an attempt to hush up the case involving bigwigs, another counsel drew the court’s attention towards a media report that police had seized a fresh CD and got it examined from a Calcutta based lab. The lab had certified that the woman featuring in the CD was Gupta.

When the court, after going through the news report, sought a reply from Additional Advocate General Anil Sethi, the latter said there was no authenticity in the reports. Senior advocate A.K. Sawhney, counsel for DGP Gopal Sharma, submitted that in case the bench was not satisfied with the closure report submitted by the Crime Branch, it may order the case to be referred to the CBI.

Observing that orders regarding the acceptance or rejection of the final report are to be passed by the competent magistrate under section 173 of CrPC, the bench directed the DGP to file an affidavit stating Gupta’s whereabouts during October 24-November 3, 2004 (when a case was registered against her).

The matter will now come up for hearing on February 14.

Reacting to today’s developnets, Gupta’s counsel Rahul Pant said that their stand has been vidicated and now the only matter left is compensation for his client.

Gupta has already filed a writ petition before the High Court, seeking registration of case against erring police officers, including IGP (Jammu zone) S.P. Vaid and SP (City) Prabhat Singh, for keeping her under illegal detention and subjecting her to torture. She has also sought Rs 1 crore as damage to her reputation.