Mumbai: TVF founder Arunabh Kumar acquitted in 2017 sexual harassment case

A court in Mumbai has acquitted The Viral Fever (TVF) founder Arunabh Kumar in a 2017 sexual harassment case, ruling that there was an "unexplained and unreasonable" delay in filing the FIR.

According to PTI, the court also noted that the complaint was filed out of "grudge" or business rivalry. The magistrate in his order held that "there is no concrete evidence produced by the prosecution".

"There is material discrepancy and contradiction. There is even unreasonable and unexplained delay in filing the FIR, which raised clouds on the case of the prosecution," the court said.

All witnesses are "interest witnesses". They are involved in the same industry where the accused is also doing the business. Therefore, the prosecution failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt, the magistrate said.

Complaint against Arunabh

Arunabh is an IIT graduate who founded TVF in the year 2011.

The Andheri police had registered a case against Arunabh under Indian Penal Code Sections 354 A (causing sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) in 2017, based on the complaint of a former employee.

As per the prosecution, the alleged incident took place in 2014. The complaint was filed three years after the incident as the complainant came across other women making similar allegations on social media.

(With inputs from PTI)