Choreographer Jani Master accused of sexually abusing a 21-year-old, no charges filed

A 21-year-old accused choreographer Shaik Jani Basha, better known as Jani Master, of sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions. The Cyberabad Raidurgam police responded to the allegations and filed a First Information Report (FIR) against the man.

The woman claimed that she had worked with Jani on several projects and that he had sexually abused her for the past few months. The victim added that he had assaulted her multiple times during their shoots together in different cities, including Chennai, Mumbai and Hyderabad. She told police that Jani had even abused her multiple times in her own apartment in Narsingi in Hyderabad.

The police have filed charges against the choreographer under clause (2) and (n) of Section 376 (rape), intimidation (506) and intentional assault (323) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

According to a report in The HinduA senior police official confirmed the news and mentioned that the case was being thoroughly investigated. He was quoted as saying, “Since the woman is a resident of Narsingi, the case has been handed over to the police there and further investigation is being carried out.”

The matter was first raised before Shikha Goel, director general of the Women Safety Wing (WSW) in Telangana, who advised the victim to file a case with the police. “I advised them to initiate an internal investigation under the Prevention of Sexual Harassment (PoSH) Act and since the allegations also attract criminal consequences, they were also told to file a case with the law and order police,” she said.

Jani, who also composed Salman Khan's choreography for Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan, was earlier sentenced to six months' imprisonment in connection with a college brawl in 2015. He was charged under various sections of the IPC, including assault (354), battery (324) and criminal intimidation (506). However, the Medchal court dismissed the charge of assault (354) and punished him under the other sections.

Jani recently choreographed the popular dance steps for the song 'Aayi Nahi' from Stree 2. He has worked with Ram Charan, Jr. NTR, Chiranjeevi, Thalapathy Vijay, Dhanush and Pawan Kalyan among others. The choreographer is yet to comment on the allegations.

–– with contributions by Apoorva Jayachandran