Bulgarian flight attendant accuses pharma tycoon of rape, moves Gujarat High Court for FIR

PTI

Ahmedabad, November 21

A flight attendant from Bulgaria has moved the Gujarat High Court after a lower court refused to entertain her plea seeking registration of an FIR for alleged rape and sexual harassment against the chairman and managing director (CMD) of a prominent pharmaceuticals company based in Ahmedabad.

After admitting the petition seeking direction to the Ahmedabad police to lodge a complaint of rape and sexual harassment, Justice JC Doshi had on October 13 asked the court registry to collect record and proceedings (R&P) of the said matter from the magisterial court concerned.

The petition will now be heard by Justice HD Suthar on December 4 after Diwali vacation.

As per the 27-year-old woman's plea, she was hired as a flight attendant and personal assistant for the pharma company CMD in August 2022. After accepting the offer, she landed in Ahmedabad in November 2022 and was provided an accommodation by the firm in the Chharodi area.

In the plea, she alleged the businessman, during a trip to Rajasthan in February 2023, passed a "sexual comment" on her and asked her to be more "extrovert" instead of being shy.

During a trip to Jammu days later, the women alleged the pharma firm CMD put her in an "uncomfortable situation" and sexually harassed her in the presence of others.

The Bulgarian national claimed she had approached the city police with a complaint of rape and sexual harassment against the businessman, but no FIR (first information report) was registered against the accused.

Following this, she approached a local magisterial court a couple of months ago seeking direction to the police to take her complaint and act on it.

However, Chief Judicial Magistrate PA Parmar rejected her plea on October 3, saying the woman had reached a "compromise" with the company in the past, but did not reveal the same in her complaint to the court.

The magistrate had ordered an inquiry after admitting her complaint in May.

As part of the inquiry, Sola police station Inspector JB Agravat had informed the court that the flight attendant, after filing a complaint in the form of an application, had submitted an affidavit declaring she wants to withdraw her complaint and no longer has any grievances against the accused.

The magistrate, in his order rejecting the woman's plea for FIR, noted there was no substance in her allegations and she has failed to provide any evidence to back her claims.

In her fresh plea before the HC, the Bulgarian national has alleged she was forced to sign the affidavit at the Vastrapur police station by police officials to save the businessman.

Through the plea, she has also urged the HC to direct the police to furnish CCTV footage of the police station to prove her allegation.

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