The Supreme Court today has dismissed a plea challenging the Allahabad High Court’s order which granted bail to former union minister Swami Chinmayanand, in a sexual exploitation case.
A divisional bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Naveen Sinha rejected the plea stating that the Allahabad High Court has given reasons in its order granting bail to Chinmayanand and it requires no interference. The bench further issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on a separate plea seeking transfer of Chinmayanand case from Lucknow to a court in Delhi.
Chinmayanand was arrested on 20 September 2019, by the Special Investigation Team of Uttar Pradesh Police, in a case of sexual exploitation of a law student at Shahjahanpur. 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.
However, on 3 February, the Allahabad High Court granted bail to Chinmayanand, after the SIT has in a parallel case, arrested the student for allegedly trying to extort Rs 5 crore from Chinmayanand, threatening to release video clips of massages, that she was forced to perform on the former minister. She was later granted bail on 4 December.
The Allahabad HC had observed it was a case of ‘quid pro quo’ stating that “Both parties crossed their limits and at this stage, it is very difficult to adjudicate as to who exploited whom. In fact, both of them used each other.”
