Preity Zinta alleging ex boyfriend Ness Wadia of molesting her at Garware Pavilion in Wankhede Stadium during an IPL match was not well received by many. While Wadia expressed his shock over the whole issue, many people opined that this was just a publicity stunt to draw the attention of people at large as she was not getting any roles in films. The topic was hot, was trending on twitter for a short while. The charged pressed against Wadia came as a rude shock to the Wadia family and as a surprise to the people in general. The people criticizing her got more fodder by the news that Preity was away to America after framing the charges.
The nature of the complaint was problematic. She accused Wadia of humiliating her, abusing her in public. In Wankhede, he apparently grabbed her hand and tried to pull her. Ness had supposedly screamed at Preity earlier. He had insulted her in front of a crowd and used derogatory language like ‘You f*****g b***h, you have shown your class, f**k you, f**k you. However mild, such an insult cannot be overlooked and Preity was right registering an FIR against him.
A complaint has been lodged under IPC sections 354 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman). However, later, Preity’s lawyer claimed that she had not accused him of sexual molestation. Police are thinking of altering molestation charges to stalking as there is no clear cut proof of molestation as CCTV footage fail to prove the same but he had tried to follow her through e-mails.
Preity is meanwhile going to return to India and visit the police. The film fraternity is, however, silent on the whole issue. Salman Khan refused to comment whereas SRK has said that he would speak to Preity as a friend.
Preity is a brave girl which she has proved time and again. Although people’s opinion are divided on the entire issue, if Preity’s charges are justified, then she should take a strong stand against Ness. One should not let such incidents go unreported. It is a matter of self-respect for the person. May the truth prevail and may justice be delivered to the victim.
