Section 375 2019

Notable film director Rohan Khurana (Rahul Bhat) is arrested and convicted by a sessions court after assistant costume designer Anjali Dangle (Meera Chopra) accuses him of sexual assault. Anjali returns home and breaks down and her family taker her to a police station to file an FIR. She first has to undergo a police officer verified medical examination to determine sexual assault. The medical examination is demeaning and humiliating, which has fairly detailed questions asked by a empathy less medical person (Dibyendu Bhattacharya) about everything that happened during the physical act of sexual assault. Anjali's mom (Shama Nivane) is present during the examination.The sessions court quickly delivers the verdict and sentences Tarun to 10 years prison. Kainaaz Khurana (Shriswara), Rohan's wife goes to Tarun to file an appeal. Tarun agrees to take the case but will charge higher as these high-profile cases pay for his pro-Bono work. Shilpa (Sandhya Mridul) is Tarun's wife.In the High Court, senior and talented criminal barrister Tarun Saluja (Akshaye Khanna) works hard to punch holes in the accuser's claims, while Hiral Ghandi (Richa Chadda), an Utopian and fervent lawyer fighting her first big case, who was once Saluja's trainee, serve as the prosecutor and defense barrister of the claimed victim. Judges are Justice Indrani (Kruttika Desai) and Madgaonkar (Kishor Kadam).Tarun starts his defense by proving that the PSI Milind Kasle (Shrikant Yadav) actually demanded bribe of Rs 20 Lakhs from Rohan and when Rohan refused to pay, then the SI wrote Anjali's FIR and then arrested him, a full 6 hours after Anjali entered the police station. He then kept Rohan's phone under his custody against procedure, so that he could hide evidence of his bribe phone calls to Rohan. Then Kasle went to Rohan's house and took the bed sheet from Rohan's room and kept it in his custody, rather than properly collecting it via an investigating agency, and sent it to the forensic lab after 5 days. Tarun creates enough doubt that Kasle was biased, because he wasn't paid a bribe.The court agrees that the chain of custody was broken, but also says that Kasle does not have the mental acumen to tamper with the evidence and allows the evidence to be considered. Next Tarun produces evidence that even though Anjali claims she screamed, none of the neighbors heard anything. She was wearing a tight jean, which is difficult to wear and remove (so Rohan could not have removed it by himself). His house maid was out for just 22 mins, which is not enough time to complete all of this. He also provides evidence that Rohan's nails had no trace of Anjali's skin or cells (which would be there if he had grabbed her or held her by her hair). Also, the marks on the back of Rohan point to a passionate sexual intercourse and not sexual assault. Tarun admits that Rohan and Anjali had sex that day, but it was consensual. The beating marks on Anjali were from her brother (after she reported the sexual assault at home), not from Rohan. Anjali now says that first she was beaten by Rohan and then her brother.Tarun produces video footage of Rohan's colony to show that Anjali was at Rohan's apartment 4 days before the sexual assault as well. But Hiral counters that even if Anjali was having an affair with Rohan, that does not mean Rohan did not sexual assault Anjali on that day in question. Now Rohan confesses that he did in fact have an affair with Anjali, who got super possessive and wanted to marry him. Which is why he wanted to break things up with her.Insisting that it is a case of an affair gone sour, Tarun Saluja points out that the law does not regard consensual physical relations as sexual assault. Hiral Gandhi refuses to call it anything but sexual assault, demanding justice to be served. Tarun Saluja states that Law is a fact, Justice is abstract. The case disputes the legal provisions of the penal code 375 that defines conditions under which a sexual offense can be defined as sexual assault.Meanwhile the society wants Rohan Khurana to be hanged, despite not knowing the entire incident.Finally, Rohan Khurana is sentenced to 10 years in prison, but it is later realized that sex was consensual, and Anjali Dangle has been deceitful, thus no justice was served and Hiral Ghandi realizes that she did not fight for justice. In the end, Tarun Saluja says to Hiral Ghandi that they are in the business of law and not justice. The story showed a realistic take on the way courts and lawyers' function in India.

Akshaye Khanna

Tarun Saluja

Richa Chadha

Hiral Gandhi

Rahul Bhat

Rohan Khurana

Raviza Chauhan

Prajakta