While the warrant was issued due to his continuous absence in the court, the singer’s lawyers said he didn’t show up even yesterday due to health and personal reasons
Ankit Tiwari has been accused of raping a 28-year-old woman on several occasions between 2012 and 2013.
A special court for women’s cases yesterday stayed the non-bailable warrant (NBW) issued against singer and music composer Ankit Tiwari, who has been accused of raping a 28-year-old woman on several occasions from 2012-13. The court also asked him to appear for the next hearing on May 4. mid-day had reported yesterday that an NBW was issued against Tiwari on April 25, for not appearing in the court for two consecutive hearings — on April 20 and April 25.
Ankit Tiwari has been accused of raping a 28-year-old woman on several occasions between 2012 and 2013. File pic
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Tiwari’s lawyer Mahesh Vaswani yesterday asked the court to cancel the NBW, but Justice AS Shende decided to stay it. Vaswani told the court that Tiwari, who was not present even on Thursday, could not come because of health and personal reasons. Moreover, the Versova police also asked the court for more time to trace Tiwari as they could not find him at his place on Wednesday.
Tiwari’s lawyers filed the discharge application yesterday. The application refuted several claims made by the rape survivor. While she had claimed that she had never consumed liquor prior to Tiwari forcing her to do so, the application said this did not seem possible as she worked in an advertising company. It further said the versions of witnesses’ statements have many contradictions.
The survivor had alleged that Tiwari had recorded the incident and was threatening to publish it online if she didn’t maintain physical relations with him. The application refuted that claim, saying the entire chargesheet, filed before the court, has no mention of any video clip being recovered.
On December 19, 2015, the court had charged Tiwari under sections 376, 493, 417 and 506 (2) of the IPC.
In his defence, Tiwari told mid-day, “All rumours of my travels out of the country causing problems are rubbish. The court has allowed me to travel anywhere for my work. Anybody is welcome to see the relevant documents.”
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