Ravindranath Ghosh, a casting director, was recently sentenced to life imprisonment by a Mumbai sessions court for raping and harassing a 23-year-old aspiring actor-model.
The sessions court also imposed a fine of Rs 1.31 lakh of which the casting director will have to pay Rs 1 lakh as a compensation to the victim while the remaining 31 thousand will be deposited to the court.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, Ghosh first met the victim in 2011 while she was working at a hospital and had introduced himself as a cameraman and casting director telling her that he was producing a television series.
Ghosh had promised to help her when she had expressed her desire to become an actor. One month later, he referred to a TV show audition and sought sexual favours in exchange of work. The victim had then started ignoring his calls.
When she responded to him after two weeks, Ghosh invited her to meet him at a lodge in Madh Island where he raped her and clicked her naked pictures in February 2012.
The accused had then pressurized her to maintain sexual relations and threatened to send her obscene photos to her husband if she failed to comply with his demands. He continued to rape her till March 2012.
The victim was forced to change her job to avoid frequent encounters with him but Ghosh continued to show up at her workplace. She had then moved to Saputara but she returned to Mumbai in December 2012. She was pregnant during this time.
The accused then showed up at her house and demanded Rs 1 lakh to end their relationship. The victim had agreed to pay him the amount after giving birth. She had changed her phone number in 2013 post which Ghosh had sent her photos to her employer.
In December 2013, she approached the police and filed a complaint against him. Ghosh was then arrested. The complainant had claimed that Ghosh used to send her threatening letters from prison.
The defence counsel argued that the relationship between Ghosh and the victim was consensual, Judge AD Deo said that "consent given under fear of injury of misconception of fact is not consent."
