Express News Service

LUCKNOW: In a major turn of events, the Allahabad High Court has rejected allegations of bias and harassment against UP government's Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is probing Swami Chinmayanand sexual abuse case. The allegations were raised in a complaint filed in the court by the Shahjahanpur law student, who has charged Swami Chinmayanand with sexual harassment.

Consequently, the court, on Thursday, directed the concerned trial court to pass any order which it may deem fit and proper in accordance with law after taking cognizance on the police report.

Hearing an application filed by the law student, who has accused former Union minister Swami Chinmayanand of sexual harassment, a division bench comprising Justice Manoj Misra and Justice Deepak Verma observed that they were satisfied with the SIT probe as it had duly investigated all aspects and after a thorough investigation, had submitted a police report. Hence no further action is required, said the bench.

In her application moved before this division bench of Allahabad HC, which is monitoring the trial on SCs directive, the law student had demanded setting up of a fresh investigation team and sought action against the officials of the existing SIT for allegedly harassing and assaulting her family members. She claimed that the SIT was partial and that Chinmayanand had been offered special treatment through the course of the investigation as if he were a state guest.

The court accepted the SITs contention that it could not be labelled as biased, as it had strongly opposed Chinmayanands bail application, which resulted in a lower court refusing to grant him bail at one stage. However, the court also rejected the girls allegations of her familys harassment at the hands of SIT.

Notably, the LLM student of SS Law College, run by Mumukshu Ashram of Chinmayanand, had accused the Swami of rape and harassment for over a year. Following her complaint, Chinmayanand was booked under Sections 376 C (sexual intercourse by a person in authority), 342 (Wrongful Confinement), 354 D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of IPC. He was arrested on September 20, 2019 and languished in Shajahanpur district jail till he got a bail from High Court on February 3, this year.

The law student and three of her accomplices were booked in the extortion case by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the basis of the complaint filed by Chinmayanand. All the four were accused of demanding Rs 5 crore from the former Union minister while threatening him with the release of his objectionable videos.

The law student was booked under Sections 385 (Putting person in fear of injury in order to commit extortion), 507 (Criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication), 201 (Causing disappearance of evidence), 34 (Acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC and Section 67 (A) of IT Act.

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Chinmayanand case: HC rejects law students allegations of bias, harassment against SIT - The New Indian Express