28 April,2016 08:30 AM IST | | Sailee Dhayalkar
A special court for women’s cases on Monday issued a non-bailable warrant against singer and music composer Ankit Tiwari, who has been accused of raping a 28-year-old woman on several occasions between 2012-13
Ankit Tiwari
A special court for women's cases on Monday issued a non-bailable warrant against singer and music composer Ankit Tiwari, who has been accused of raping a 28-year-old woman on several occasions between 2012-13.
Ankit Tiwari
According to sources, the warrant was issued when Tiwari did not appear in the court for two consecutive hearings - on April 20 and April 25.
On December 19, 2015, the court had charged Tiwari under Sections 376 (rape), 493 (cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful marriage), 417 (cheating) and 506 (2) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. The case's next hearing is today.
However Ankit's lawyers challenged these charges in the Bombay High Court, which allowed them and asked his lawyer to file a discharge application soon.
The singer in May 2014 was accused of rape by a 28-year-old woman, who alleged that he did this on the pretext of marrying her. When he didn't, she filed a complaint against him. The woman also accused the singer's brother Ankur Tiwari of threatening her.
Also, after framing the charges the court had asked the survivor to record her statement but she didn't appear before the court for several hearings. When she finally did on April 5, her lawyers said though she was present in the court she wasn't in a state to give a statement.