Paul Shah case: Minor changes her statement
KATHMANDU: APRIL. 18 – The 17-year-old singer who had filed a complaint accusing actor Paul Shah of raping her changed her statement at the Tanahun District Court on Sunday.
While recording her statement at the court, the girl said that she had not been raped as claimed earlier by her. According to Min Bahadur Kunwar, a court officer, the minor told the court that the information stated in the earlier complaints was false.
According to Kunwar, the court recorded the girl’s statement in a closed hearing in the presence of her father. In her statement, she said she had lodged the complaint after being provoked by some people.
The girl’s parents are scheduled to record their statements in court on Monday. The case will proceed on the basis of her parents’ court statement.
“Paul did not rape me. I registered the complaints after being provoked by others,” Kunwar quoted the girl as saying.
Kunwar said she also claimed her earlier statements to the police were false.
In her police complaints, the girl had claimed that Shah had raped her in Pokhara, Tanahun and Gaidakot in the past. She had also filed another case against Shah at the Area Police Office in Gaindakot, Nawalparasi.
The girl’s father also lodged a complaint at the District Police Office in Tanahun on February 23 stating that Shah had repeatedly raped his daughter.
The 32-year-old actor was taken into custody after he surrendered at the District Police Office in Tanahun on February 27.
On March 24, the district court issued the order to send Shah to judicial custody for investigation. Shah has been in custody since his arrest.
Based on a police investigation, the District Attorney’s Office had filed a charge sheet against Shah at Tanahun District Court seeking a 12-14 years prison sentence and suitable compensation from Shah. It stated that the plaintiff was a minor under the age of 16 when the said incident had occurred.
The singer, a minor as per Nepal’s law, accused Shah of raping her with a false promise of marriage. She filed the case in Tanahun days after a controversy arose, with reports surfacing on various online news outlets.
-Kathmandu Post
