Shiney Ahuja's rape case inspired Section 375 story, reveals film's writer; Shares disturbing details

The crime drama flick Section 375 starring Richa Chadha and Akshaye Khanna released last week and has been on the receiving end of only good reviews from the critics and the audience. The hard-hitting storyline combined with the immaculate performance by the lead cast succeded in winning the hearts of the viewers and also gave out a strong message with their film. But here’s a little Tuesday trivia for you: the movie was based on actor Shiney Ahuja's rape case.

For the uninitiated, the Gangster actor was accused of raping his house-maid and was sentenced to seven years of jail by a sessions court, before getting bail from the High Court. The writer of the film Section 375, Manish Gupta revealed that he was deeply affected by Shiney's rape case, and that is what made him make this film. 

"It is absolutely inspired by the Shiney Ahuja case because I knew Shiney personally. This was in 2009. In 2009, I was supposed to do a film with Shiney. It was supposed to be a film on the gangster Charles Sobhraj. So I used to visit Shiney at his residence in Oshiwara and his wife Anupam," Gupta told The Quint.

"She was his manager, so I used to interact with her. And now there was this maid, a very young maid in the house. She used to serve me water etc. One evening, I just heard that Shiney has been arrested for raping that girl. I was shocked. I rushed to the police station - the Oshiwara police station," he added.

Manish also goes on to share some disturbing details from Ahuja’s rape case. He mentioned that he had met with the DCP, who had confirmed the intercourse between Shiney and the maid, but they were not sure if it was consensual or rape.

The Section 375 writer also revealed how Shiney’s wife believed that the DNA reports could be manipulated and how the entire case affected their family terribly. "His career was ruined, he spent four to five months in jail and after he came out he was still tainted. Imagine if you are accused of a crime like rape, nobody will want to associate with you. Imagine the embarrassment within the family. His whole life was ruined, his career was ruined," Gupta added.

He concluded by saying that the case left him baffled, and eventually inspired him to make a movie based on it. "Now I didn't know what to believe. On one side was Anupam who is a woman and her husband has been accused of rape. Her life is devastated even if it was consensual sex. On the other hand, there is this girl who has been raped, exploited so it was rather disturbing for me. And that's how the germ of the movie came. But yes there are other similar cases to that of Shiney's that were source material for me," Manish said.