Bombay High Court asks police to clear stand on Kishori Pednekar's case against Ashish Shelar

The Bombay High Court asked police to clarify whether they want to prosecute the complaint brought by former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar against BJP MLA Ashish Shelar over remarks he made at a press conference following a cylinder blast last year.

HC is hearing a petition filed by Shelar seeking the quashing of the FIR registered against him on the complaint of Pednekar. Shelar's lawyer Rizwan Merchant on Monday told the court there was no intention to outrage Pednekar's modesty.Merchant said police registered a case against Shelar under Indian Penal Code section 354 (A) (4) without conducting an enquiry.

Shelar had no intention to make any sexually coloured remark and the comment was only raising concern about the public personality not being at the spot of the incident, the lawyer said. The court asked Additional Government Pleader J P Yagnik to clarify the position of the prosecution in the case and asked him whether the prosecution wanted to pursue the case.
     
Yagnik sought time to take instructions from senior police officers. The court then gave a last chance to the prosecution seeking a concrete stand of the police and posted the further hearing to August 25. In her complaint to the police, Pednekar alleged Shelar had made derogatory remarks about her in the context of a cylinder blast at BDD Chawl in Mumbai's Worli area on November 30, which resulted in the death of four persons.