A special court has asked the law student who accused Swami Chinmayanand of sexually assaulting her to appear before it on November 27. The special MP-MLA court has ordered the law student to record her statement in the ongoing State vs Chinmayanand case. On 28 August 2019, former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Swami Chinmayanand was booked for allegedly raping and physically exploiting a 23-year-old law student. Last month, the law student withdrew her allegations against the 72-year-old former Union Minister.
“The court has ordered the student to appear before it to record her statements as to why she has disowned her allegations of sexual harassment against Chinmayanand,” said Abhay Tripathi, prosecution lawyer representing the UP government.
After she went back on her statement, a case was registered against the law student under Section 340 of the CrPC for lying in the court. “In all her FIRs, even the one lodged in New Delhi, the law student had levelled allegations of sexual harassment against the former minister. Now, she has disowned these allegations. This is a clear case of perjury,” prosecution lawyer Tripathi said.
What is the case about?
The law student had accused him of sexual harassment in a viral video, following which she went missing from Shahjahanpur in UP. A month later in September, both Chinmayanand and the woman were arrested and sent to prison. In February this year, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Chinmayanand and the woman also came out of jail on bail.
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The case started getting national attention and on September 2, the state government formed a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the matter. On September 8, the law student filed a rape complaint against Chinmayanand in Delhi. "Swami Chinmayanand raped me and even exploited me physically for one year," the woman alleged. SIT lodged an FIR against the former minister under Section 376-C of the IPC. The student was also charged with extortion, based on a case filed by Chinmayanand’s team.
Feature Image Credit: Gulf News
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