‘Peepli Live’ co-director gets 7 yrs jail for raping American woman

Bollywood film ‘Peepli Live’ co-director Mahmood Farooqui was on Thursday sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a Delhi court for raping a US researcher here last year. Additional Sessions Judge Sanjiv Jain awarded the minimum jail term prescribed for the offence to Farooqui, who was produced in the court in custody.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the 44-year-old filmmaker and said the amount be given to the victim, failing which he would have to undergo an additional imprisonment of three months. It also tasked the Delhi Legal Service Authority to decide appropriate compensation for the woman.

The court had on July 30 held him guilty of raping the American woman last year at his house in a drunken state.During the arguments on sentence earlier, Delhi Police had sought life imprisonment for the filmmaker, saying the crime perpetrated on the foreigner has brought “disrepute” to India.

Farooqui’s counsel Nitya Ramakrishnan had said as the filmmaker suffered from bipolar disorder and has fully cooperated in the case he should be given a chance to reform.

Seeking stringent punishment for Farooqui, complainant’s counsel Vrinda Grover had said, “The foreigner (victim) was here for research work but was raped by a person she knew, who was her friend and whom she had trusted”.

Farooqui, who was out on bail, was taken into custody immediately after his conviction in the case. Prosecutor Mohammed Ikrar had earlier said that the woman, in her complaint, had alleged that Farooqui was drunk when he raped her at his house where she had gone to seek his help for her research work in March last year. The police had on June 19, 2015, lodged the FIR against Farooqui on the woman’s complaint after which he was arrested.