Gujarat High Court orders investigation into Bulgarian’s allegation of rape against CEO of Pharma Firm

Ahmedabad: A Bulgarian national filed a complaint alleging rape and human trafficking against the chairman and managing director (CMD) of a well-known Indian pharmaceutical company. The Gujarat High Court on Friday ordered the chief judicial magistrate to issue an order directing a competent police officer to conduct an investigation.

Given the facts and circumstances of the case, the court of Justice Hasmukh Suthar ordered that the inquiry be finished in two months under the supervision of a senior IPS officer who had been selected by the Deputy Inspector General (Law and Order).

According to the court, police officers have also been the target of serious accusations that they have not performed their duties. It gave the government instructions to investigate the situation and punish negligent police officers for their inactivity and neglect of duty.

A Bulgarian national had petitioned the Gujarat High Court seeking permission to file a formal complaint (FIR) against the chief executive officer (CMD) of a prominent Indian pharmaceutical company for various offenses, including sexual assault, assault, criminal intimidation, and human trafficking, as well as against police officers for failing to file a formal complaint.

She begged that even though she had gone to the police and complained, they had not opened an investigation or filed a formal complaint. She said that when she filed a private case against the accused, the magistrate court rejected it.

She asked the court for permission to overturn the chief judicial magistrate’s decision to reject her private complaint against the defendants.

The court noted that although victims of sexual assault are aware of their rights, they often struggle to have their complaints heard or resolved under the current system because of several flaws.

Only a few groups of brave and fearless victims prepare to face suffering and launch a legal defense. It said that police authorities and knowledgeable judges should have handled such allegations delicately given the current circumstances.

The magistrate’s ruling has to be overturned because, according to the court, it disregarded established legal norms.

The court declared that just directing an inquiry into the complaint’s accusations would not in any way harm anybody.

The high court noted that when the police discover the revelation of a cognisable offense at an early stage, they have an obligation to file a report and look into the offense in accordance with the guidelines established by the Supreme Court in the Lalita Kumari (Supra) case.

The Bulgarian national claimed in her appeal that she joined the pharmaceutical company on November 24, 2022, after traveling to India in search of work as a flight attendant.

Her job description was altered, and she was assigned to travel and work with the company’s CMD as a personal attendant and butler.

She experienced sexual harassment at work, and the plea claimed that on April 3, 2023, she lost her job because she refused to give in to unlawful demands.

Regarding this, the petitioner wrote to both her Foreign Regional Registration Office and her Embassy.

After filing an affidavit at the Mahila police station declaring that she had resolved the problem with her employer, she said she was subsequently pressured to drop her case and got a demand draft for ₹ 24 lakh from the employer.

She then filed a private complaint with the magistrate court, which dismissed the first complaint and refused to record the second one. She also submitted a second complaint to the police commissioner.

The high court held that as the offenses were cognizable, the magistrate had a responsibility to forward the complaint for a police inquiry in accordance with Section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC).

The high court said that despite the petitioner’s repeated attempts to get the evidence via the police, the court placed the burden of producing the proof in support of the claims made in the May 5, 2023 complaint without giving her a chance to be heard.

It was the responsibility of the police to thoroughly and impartially investigate the allegations, even though the complaint initially revealed cognizable and non-compoundable offenses, including the allegation of human trafficking. The court noted that in the case of human trafficking, the survivor’s consent is irrelevant.