Bollywood actor Preity Zinta had previously remained shush on the sexual harassment case she filed against former beau and business partner, industrialist Ness Wadia, requesting the media to respect her privacy. But the Sangharsh actor has now taken a critical step in way of ending her personal ‘sangharsh’ by breaking silence on the case, according to IANS.
Zinta revealed the entire sordid episode in her detailed two-hour statement to Mumbai police, according to official sources. On Tuesday night, she reiterated the allegations in her original June 12 statement, detailing how Wadia had screamed abuses at, insulted, and attacked her character publicly despite being repeatedly warned to mind his language.
She said this demeaned her dignity as a woman and humiliated her in full public view, officials said. As part of the statement recording, she showed investigators the seats they had occupied in the Wankhede Stadium during the Indian Premier League match dated May 30, as owners of the Kings XI Punjab team.
Accompanied by her brother, Zinta took the police to the spots in the stadium that includes 35 seats in the air-conditioned enclosure and another 50 in the general area, which were reserved for the team owners.
Police said they sought certain clarifications from her on the episode and had selected the Wankhede Stadium to get a clear understanding of the circumstances and reconstruct the sequence of events, which unfolded on the evening of May 30.
Zinta’s complete statement will now be corroborated with that of eight others recorded in the past few days before the police decide the future course of action. Another 14 witnesses named by her, including some foreigners, common friends of her and Wadia, stadium staffers and others, are likely to be questioned by the police over the next few days.
The police, however, continue to remain tight-lipped about their plans to question or summon Wadia in connection with the episode. The investigations follow Zinta’s accusations in her police complaint against Wadia of allegedly molesting, humiliating and threatening her.
Soon after Zinta filed the case, media pundits were quick to express their scepticism over the ‘#PreityNessMess’. While some panned her for lodging a complaint about a man she was previously in a consensual relationship with, others rebuffed it as a publicity stunt, reported buzzfeed.com. However, many people took to Twitter and noted that these comments underline the public’s myopic perspective of abusive relationships.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 27th, 2014.
Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ