MUMBAI, Aug 5: Regional passport officer Manohar Vishnu Hade today appeared before the metropolitan magistrate at Bhoiwada court after being summoned in the sexual harassment case filed against him by actress Rakhee Gulzar.In her complaint filed before metropolitan magistrate V V Phand, the actress had said that she met Hade for the first time at her dentist Dr B P Parulkar's clinic in 1995, and Hade then offered to help her with any passport-related work.According to Rakhee, she contacted Hade early in May 1997, as her passport was due to expire on May 25, 1997 and she was scheduled to go abroad a few days later.Hade, she has stated, assured her the work would be done immediately and asked her to come to his office on May 7 with her passports. When she went to his office along with two passsports - issued in 1977 and 1987 respectively - Hade asked her why the '77 passport had been detached from the '87 one. To this, the complaint said, Rakhee replied she had detached the earlier passport becauseit had expired in 1987.The actress said she was then given two sets of forms by Hade and asked to come back the next day, May 8. When she did the following day, the complaint stated, Hade told her she looked young enough to be a heroine, instead of playing the role of a mother, in films. At that time, Rakhee said, she chose to ignore his advances.Hade then told her she could come the next day to collect her passport.Embarrassed with what had happened the previous day, the actress sent her assistant to collect the receipts, but he was told by Hade that Rakhee had committed forgery on her passport.Rakhee then took up the matter with the then police commissioner Subhash Malhotra, and an inquiry was initiated under the zonal deputy commissioner of police. Since the police failed to take any action, the actress said, she decided to file a private complaint before the magistrate.Hade has, in his reply, denied the allegations, and he executed a personal bond of Rs 1000 today. Counsel for the actressTejas Bhat submitted the plea should be recorded, and the charges explained to the accused.Devendra Yadav, advocate for Hade, objected to the plea and said his client planned to move an application seeking discharge from the case. The matter will now come up for hearing on September 9, 1998, when charges will be framed.
