A court on Thursday sentenced Mahmood Farooqui, co-director of Hindi film Peepli Live, to seven years jail after finding him guilty of raping an American woman and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on Farooqui, who was convicted on July 30 of raping a 35-year-old woman from Columbia University who was in India for research on her doctoral thesis. But his wife says the judgement is unjust. In a Facebook post, Anusha Rizvi, the wife said, "Independent record makes the charge of 'forced oral sex' against Mahmood Farooqui simply impossible. The conviction is unjust for it ignores irrefutable evidence on the most flimsy grounds. "Indeed, it appears that the Judge has given more than the benefit of the doubt to the prosecution but has expected the defence to prove it's case beyond reasonable doubt.

We shall appeal the judgment." she said. She added: "Lives and reputations are irretrievably lost when there is denial of justice, but our fight for rightful exoneration continues. I firmly believe that we will secure justice in the High Court." Rizvi co-directed the critically acclaimed movie "Peepli Live" with her husband. The American woman, who moved to Delhi in June 2014, was looking for contacts for her work in Gorakhpur and came in contact with Farooqui through a common friend. The incident occurred on March 28, 2015 when Farooqui invited her for dinner at his house. While in court Farooqui denied the allegations, and claimed he was falsely implicated.