Indian film-maker Mahmood Farooqui has been found guilty of raping an American research student at his Delhi home in March 2015.
Farooqui, who co-directed the 2010 release Peepli Live, with his wife
Anusha Rizvi, faces seven years to life I’m prison, according to the
Indian Express. The court is slated to hear arguments Tuesday before
sentencing him.
The case first came to light when the victim, who was a student from
Columbia University, filed a police complaint which led to Farooqui’s
arrest last June. He was later released on bail as the case went to
trial in September.
The case is seen as a landmark as its verdict has been delivered under a
2013 amendment to the criminal law which included forced oral sex as a
crime, the complainant’s counsel Vrinda Grover told the Express.
“This is perhaps one of the first cases of forced oral sex, which shows
two things: that there was a crime for which we did not earlier have an
offense named, now it has been recognized as rape. We’re also very happy
to see that the court relied on very credible evidence that the woman
gave.”
The brutal gang-rape of a young Delhi woman on a moving bus in New Delhi
on December 16, 2012 sparked nationwide protests. The outcry led to a
call for action against crimes against women which included legal
amendments and fast-tracking rape cases.
Farooqui was first introduced to the student, who is in her thirties, by
Danish Hussain, a long-time friend of the director. Local reports said
that Hussain, in his testimony, said that the victim immediately
contacted him after she was assaulted by Farooqui.
According to the Express, the 2012 incident was also referred to in the
testimony of the American woman who told the court that she “did not
resist” the rape because she feared she would also be killed like the
Delhi gang-rape victim.
Farooqui is expected to appeal the verdict and the case could go to a higher court.
“Our fight for justice is by no means over,” his wife Anusha Rizvi told
the Hindustan Times. “We will approach the High Court for justice that
has been denied to us.”
