Allahabad High Court Grants Bail to BJP’s Chinmayanand in Rape Case

The Allahabad High Court on Monday granted bail to former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand, accused of sexually abusing a law student. Justice Rahul Chaturvedi issued the bail order on the plea filed by the BJP leader. On November 16, the court had reserved its order after hearing the counsels from both sides.

Chinmayanand, whose trust runs Shahjahanpur Law College, where the student studied, was arrested under Section 376C of the IPC, an offence pertaining to abuse of one’s position by a person in authority to “induce or seduce” a woman under his charge to have “sexual intercourse not amounting to the offence of rape”. Chinmayanand also faces charges of stalking under Section 354D, wrongful confinement under Section 342 and criminal intimidation under Section 506 of the IPC.

The 23-year-old law student, who was arrested for allegedly trying to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand, was released on bail on December 11. The former Union minister had alleged that they had threatened to make public some video clips that showed him getting massage from the law student, who was arrested on September 25. 

The Supreme Court had stepped in after the 23-year-old law student went missing for a few days in August last year after posting a video clip on social media, alleging sexual abuse. A special investigation team of Uttar Pradesh Police, formed on the directions of the apex court, arrested Chinmayanand about a month later. The SIT also arrested the student after a complaint that she and her friends had tried to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand, threatening to make public videos showing her giving massages to the former minister.