SC rejects BJP leader Shahnawaz Hussain’s plea against FIR over alleged rape

The top court had on August 22, 2022, stayed the operation of the high court order

The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a plea by former union minister and BJP leader Syed Shahnawaz Hussain against the Delhi High Court order for registration of an FIR against him on the allegation of rape made by a woman complainant.

Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra, representing Hussain, submitted before a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat and Dipankar Dutta that the alleged woman victim had filed several complaints against their client. The counsel submitted that police have investigated the complaints but nothing has been found.

"Let’s there be a fair investigation and, if there is nothing, it will exonerate you,” the bench told the counsel.

In August last year, the top court had stayed the Delhi High Court order directing the registration of an FIR against a BJP leader in an alleged 2018 rape case.

Hussain claimed that he filed a complaint with Delhi police in 2017, stating that he was residing separately from his brother Shahbaz Khan, who was a resident of Noida and a woman through her Facebook account was continuously defaming him.

He claimed the allegations made by the woman-complainant having a matrimonial dispute with his brother were totally false and mala fide.

A single bench of the high court had directed the registration of an FIR, completion of the investigation within three months, and filing of a detailed report under Section 173 Code of Criminal Procedure.