Web Series director Forced Actress to do Nude Scenes

A web series director identified as Ravikant Singh was arrested for allegedly forcing an actress to do nude scenes which she found obscene.

The producer Shweta Sival was also arrested for inappropriately touching the 22-year-old actress and model.

Both were booked by the Malvani police and were produced before the Borivali Metropolitan Magistrate court.

Their lawyers had proposed a bail application but the court postponed the hearing. Singh and Sival have been remanded in custody until then.

The Andheri-based actress had featured in a number of TV shows. She found out about Singh through one of her friends who was working as a production creative.

The friend texted the victim in early June 2019 about the web series. He explained that an acquaintance was starting the project and was looking for an actress.

On June 7, the woman visited the web series director at his office in Andheri. He met her and told her the details of the character she would play in the series.

On June 9, he signed a contract agreement with the woman.

The victim’s statement to police explained: “Ravikant signed the contract in such a hurry that she did not get a chance to read it properly.

“But before signing it, she verbally informed him and refused to act in any kind or bold or obscene scenes other than kissing.”

The series began shooting on June 12 at a bungalow in Madh Island, Mumbai and lasted three days. Singh allegedly forced to perform several intimate scenes.

Both Singh and Sival forcibly shot nude scenes of the actress and also asked her to shoot a sex scene with another woman.

The director and producer told the young woman to take her top off.

Sival even fondled the woman’s breasts and asked her to touch the other actress’s breasts.

In the victim’s statement, she alleged that she began to receive threats after she stopped going to the shoots.

She stated that Sival left a note saying she would send a group of men to beat her up. The note also said that they would get the woman arrested since she signed an official agreement.

The threats prompted the woman to register a complaint at the DN Nagar Police Station in Andheri, Mumbai.

However, officers refused to register the case as the crime was under the jurisdiction of Malvani Police Station.

An officer said: “The Malvani police on June 22 recorded her statement and registered the case against the duo under section 354 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 506 (Punishment for criminal intimidation), began the investigation and arrested the duo.”

When the suspects were being interrogated, the police explained that all the information was clearly mentioned in her contract.

After the woman left the shoot, the production company lost hundreds of thousands of rupees.

The web series director and producer’s lawyers sent the woman a legal notice, but her lawyer sent one to the accused.

Singh and Sival remain in custody as the investigation continues.