The Allahabad High Court on Monday granted bail to former BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand, who has been accused of sexual harassment and blackmail by a 23-year-old law student.
The woman was a student of a law college in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh controlled by a trust run by Chinmayanand, a former Union minister.
Allahabad High Court grants bail to Former Union Minister and BJP leader Swami Chinmayanand in the alleged rape case of a law student. pic.twitter.com/MiQTXrrs5L
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The 72-year leader was charged with abusing his position as a person in authority to “induce or seduce” a woman under his charge to have “sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape”.
In August 2019, the 23-year-old complainant went missing soon after she posted a video detailing her ordeal without naming Chinmayanand. However, her father had named Chinmayanad in a missing-person complaint.
The law student was later found in Rajasthan on August 30, and was produced in the Supreme Court. She claimed that she had 35 videos that would prove the BJP leader’s involvement in the case.
He was arrested in September after a case was registered against him under Sections 376C (sexual intercourse by a person or persons taking advantage of their official position), 354 D (stalking), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code.
The law student who was also arrested on the grounds of extorting Rs 5 crore Chinmayanand. She was released on bail in December, two months after her arrest.
The former Union minister had contended that the law students and her friends had threatened to make public some video clips that showed him getting massages from the student.
The case is being investigated by a special investigation team (SIT) formed on the directions of the Supreme Court. On November 6, the SIT had submitted a charge sheet in the case in the court concerned.