EXCLUSIVE| Sooraj Pancholi opens up in tell-all interview after acquittal: Only I was there for Jiah in her worst time, not her family

It’s late evening. The paps and media stationed outside his house since Friday morning, are all gone. We enter Sooraj Pancholi’s house, and he comes to greet us, dressed in a simple black t shirt and jeans. He sighs when we call him a free man- he was acquitted on April 28 of abetment in actor Jiah Khan’s suicide case.

The house wears a quiet look. We begin to get a lowdown on everything that happened in this 32-year-old’s life in the last decade. “I am tired,” he says. One wonders if he is referring to just that day or the past years:

The special CBI court has acquitted you in Jiah’s suicide case. How does the term ‘free’ make you feel?

I am still trying to believe the fact that I don’t have to go to the court anymore. I spent my entire 20s in the courts. I am 32 now. When this case was put on me, I was 21. I spent my entire 20s in courts. Even today (we spoke to Pancholi the same day as the judgement) in court, maybe for others it was something different. For me, it was seeming the same because I have been sitting in courts every week. I am still trying to digest the fact that I am a free man because I fought a lot. It has taken a lot of my patience and courage.

The Court in it’s verdict said you had ‘tried to get her (Jiah) out of depression’. What was this phase, and how did you help?

I was the only one there for Jiah, at her worst time. Her family is now running for justice, but what justice are they talking about, because they were never there for their daughter when she actually needed them! I had informed Jiah’s family that she is going through depression, I did as much as I could for her at that time. But let me remind you again, I was only 20 years old. I was not even capable of taking care of myself, and yet I tried my best to take care of Jiah who was a few years older to me. At the end, she didn’t need me, she needed her family to support her. The sad truth is that it has also been revealed today in Court- her family, her mother were only present in Jiah’s life when they needed financial support.

The judgement was basis lack of evidence…

(cuts in) That’s the technical term for lawyers and judges to use. There is no evidence, it’s not lack of evidence. There is no evidence against me. Lack still makes it sound suspicious.

10 years is a significant time. How has the past decade treated you?

It has been extremely difficult. I felt extremely lonely because I didn’t want to speak to my family about it… they were going through a lot because of me anyway. And besides my family, I don’t really speak to anybody. That made me feel really upset. It’s very easy to accuse somebody, but only the person who is an accused knows what it takes to prove that everything against you is not true.

Did you have to lose out on work because of the image you got due to this case?

A lot, because of this perception. Actors, cricketers need a good perception around them. I was made into this ‘evil monster’ when I was only 20-years-old. It was not in my control because I faced a virtual media trial, where there was no investigation, no research, no evidence. My entire trial was a media trial. It was all hearsay. That’s what made it even worse and it took 10 years.