Hyderabad: Choreographer Shaik Jani Basha, popularly known as Jani Master, has been booked under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act by the Narsingi police on Wednesday, September 18.
Jani has been accused of sexually assaulting a female choreographer who worked alongside him.
The 21-year-old victim, who was 16 years old in 2019 when the alleged assaults began, filed a complaint on September 11 at the Raidurgam police station in a sealed cover.
The case was initially registered under sections 376 (2) (punishment for sexual assault), 506 (criminal intimidation) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code.
The POCSO clauses were later added as Jani is accused of assaulting the survivor from 2019, when she was a minor.
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Following the registration of the zero FIR, the case was shifted to Narsingi police station.
Jani Master, a national award winning choreographer and a member of Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party, has been distanced from party activities by the party after the FIR.
The victim alleged that Jani had been harassing and sexually assaulting her over the past six years since she started working alongside him.
She claimed that during every shoot or whenever the opportunity would arise, Basha exploited and sexually assaulted her.
The survivor said that she finally resorted to a police complaint as she was unable to get work in the industry anymore.
The Telangana State Commission for Women intervened in the matter amid delays observed in the police investigation.
The committee has issued orders to provide police protection for the victim and a high-level monitoring committee will also be constituted to investigate such cases in the film industry.
