The Bombay High Court has quashed sexual harassment proceedings against Mahesh Murthy, an angel investor who was named by several women last year. The court, which was hearing the sexual harassment case against Mahesh from 2004, set aside the proceedings saying that the delay of 14 years of filing an FIR isn’t “properly explained," the Indian Express reported.
While the prosecution argued that Mahesh, who is the founder of venture capital firm Seedfund, is a “serial sexual offender,” and the limitation period for filing a criminal complaint does not apply to sexual offences, the court countered that the limitation period applies to all offences under the Indian Penal Code.
“We have perused the order taking cognizance by the concerned magistrate and we find that neither there is an application by the prosecution for extension of limitation or condonation of delay nor there are reasons for condoning such a delay by the magistrate,” a division bench of Justices Ranjit More and NJ Jamdar said.
“In other words, neither delay is properly explained nor there are reasons by the magistrate for condoning the same in the interests of justice,” the judges added. They said that continuing the criminal proceedings against the investor would amount to “abuse of the process of law”.
Under Indian law, there is a time limit, also known as the period of limitation, for an FIR to be filed in a particular case. Under Section 468 of the CrPC (bar to taking cognizance after lapse of the period of limitation), the limitation period for an offence that is punishable with imprisonment for one to three years in prison is three years. The Bombay High Court stated that this limitation period also applies to IPC sections 354 (sexual harassment) and 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman) – the offences for which Mahesh was booked.
The court also added that the allegations of him being a “serial sexual offender” would be irrelevant to the validity and legality of the criminal proceedings pending before the Magistrate.
In the present case – where the Mumbai police registered an FIR against Mahesh in March 2018 – a woman accused Mahesh of touching her inappropriately and forcefully kissing her after she met him at a coffee shop in February 2004.
There were several women who spoke up against Mahesh and his sexual misconduct. The National Commission for Women had also intervened after it received four more complaints against Mahesh, resulting in him getting arrested early this year.
He was accused of grabbing women, touching them inappropriately, and also sending them inappropriate messages on Facebook and WhatsApp. The allegations against him date as far back as 2003 and as recently as 2016 – a woman complained to the NCW that he had sent her a lewd, explicit text on the eve of Diwali in 2016.
"Based on all the complaints received so far, NCW has observed a pattern of behaviour wherein Mahesh Murthy lures young woman to coffee shops or public spaces on the pretext of business meeting or promising to fund their start-up projects and makes verbal and physical sexual advances and sexually coloured remarks," the NCW had observed then.