Shiney's lawyer: Not a saint but not a rapist

Shiney Ahuja may not be a saint but he is not a rapist either, the actor's lawyer said pleading for bail.

Arguing before Bombay High Court, after sessions court rejected Shiney's bail plea in the rape case, his lawyer said that evidence indicated a consensual sexual intercourse between the actor and the victim.

"I (Shiney) am not a saint in a sense, but not a rapist," said advocate Shirish Gupte, representing Shiney.

Shiney was arrested by police on June 15, after his domestic maid alleged rape. Since then he is in custody, and the lower court is set to frame charges in the case.

Gupte argued that medical and other evidence suggested that intercourse was entirely with the girl's consent. Gupte said that there were no injuries on the girl's body nor were there any signs of damage on her clothes, to suggest use of force. Also, no body fluids were found on her clothes, he pointed out. The girl's 'pattern of behaviour' shows that she was the consenting party, Shiney's lawyer argued.

"She was habituated to this (intercourse)", he alleged, saying that "she had history of closeness to men".

Gupte said that as per medical reports, there were no injuries on Shiney's body, barring one between two fingers of hand. "It could be love-bites... or she clutched his hand very hard," he said, adding that had the girl resisted, she could have scratched Shiney's face, or upper body, and face.

Gupte also alleged that on the night before the incident, the girl had called Shiney's house 10 times from her cell phone.

The girl had told the police that on June 13, a day before the incident, Shiney had touched her in a wrong way when she had clambered on a basin to turn on overhead water tank, and she had chided him for that.

She did not tell this to other maidservants or to anybody else, Gupte pointed out.

Even in the statement recorded before magistrate, the girl used the word 'atyachar' (atrocity) and did not mention rape," he argued, adding that medical report too does not say there was intercourse.

Gupte also mentioned that though the victim's vaginal swab was taken for examination, medical report talks about 'slide', and not a swab.

Refuting the lower court's observation that Shiney was an 'influential person', and he may pressurise victim if released on bail, Gupte said, "He is not on the high pedestal of acting. He is a small-time actor."

Argument will continue before Justice A P Deshpande tomorrow.