Delhi court dismisses woman’s plea seeking FIR against alleged sexual assault

A Delhi court has dismissed a plea filed by a woman seeking the court’s direction to police to register an FIR against a man she accused of repeated sexual assault, saying the petitioner failed to comply with mandatory legal procedure before approaching it.

Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Mittal was hearing the plea filed by a woman alleging repeated sexual assault under the false promise of marriage, criminal intimidation, voyeurism, stalking, cheating, misuse of technology, and threats to her life.

In the order dated November 1, the magistrate said, “Perusal of the application and affidavit annexed therewith shows that it has nowhere been averred by the complainant that after inaction of the concerned station house officer (SHO), she approached the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) with her complaint.”

“This court is of the considered opinion that the applicant/complainant has not complied with the mandatory provision of Section 173(4) of the BNSS,” she said.

Section 173(4) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) provides a legal recourse for individuals if a police officer refuses to register a report of a cognisable offence.

The process allows the aggrieved person to send the information to the superior officer.

The court said the complainant did not approach the DCP concerned after inaction by the SHO, and so the legal provision of BNSS had not been owed.

The woman had alleged that the accused sexually assaulted her in 2021 at a hotel near the IGI Airport in Delhi after luring her with a false assurance of marriage and later subjected her to stalking, threats, and harassment.

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She moved the court claiming that police failed to act on her complaints and did not register an FIR despite repeated representations.

Dismissing the plea, the court said the present application was “not maintainable”.