Special Court Acquits Ex-BJP Leader Chinmayanand in Rape Case

In October 2020, the law student in question had turned hostile to her statement before a special MP-MLA court.

Swami Chinmayanand has been accused of rape by a law student. 

(Photo: The Quint) 

A special on Friday, 26 March acquitted former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and ex Union Minister Swami Chinmayanand in the rape and extortion case filed by a law student.

The girl, who was a law student in Chinmayanand-controlled SS Law College in Uttar Pradesh’s Shahjahanpur, had accused him of sexual exploitation in August 2019.

As per the directions of the Supreme Court, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to investigate the case, which came to light after the student posted a video in August 2019 alleging that “a senior leader of the saint community” was harassing and threatening to kill her.

A day later, the student went missing and her father lodged a complaint against Chinmayanand, who was arrested on 20 September, 2019.

Later, she was taken into custody on charges of trying to extort money from the former BJP leader. The law student had enrolled in one of his educational institutions at Shahjahanpur.

The investigating officer had filed a charge sheet against Chinmayanand under Sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 354-D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC and Section 376-C (abuse of one's position by a person in authority to induce or seduce a woman).

On 3 February, 2020, Chinmayanand was released on bail by the Allahabad High Court. The court transferred the case from Shahjahanpur to a special MP-MLA court of Lucknow.

In October 2020, the law student turned hostile to her statement before a special MP-MLA court in Lucknow, denying that she had made any allegations against the former minister.