Chinmayanand, 72, was arrested last year in the rape case. (Proceedings)
Lucknow / New Delhi:
A 23-year-old law student, who last year accused former BJP MP Chinmayanand of rape, turned hostile at a hearing in a special court in Lucknow on Tuesday. Chinmayanand, 72, was arrested last year in the rape case and was granted bail in February.
When she appeared before the judge of the special court, created on the instructions of the Allahabad High Court, the student refused to accept any of the accusations she had made previously. After she became hostile, the prosecution appealed to file a case under Section 340 of the CrPc (false claim and false prosecution in one case) against the student.
The law student, enrolled in one of Chinmayanand’s educational institutions in Shahjahanpur of Uttar Pradesh, had accused him of sexually exploiting her for more than a year.
The author has been asked to respond to the prosecution’s appeal. The next hearing on the case will be held on Wednesday.
The law student had filed a FIR (First Information Report) against Chinmayanand last year on September 5, almost a week after her father alleged that she had disappeared; the family had accused Chinmayanand of harassment. The former union minister was arrested on September 20, 2019.
Shortly after her arrest, the 23-year-old woman was also arrested on charges of attempting to extort 5 million rupees from the former BJP.
The state government also created a SIT (special investigation team) in the case. On November 6, the SIT had filed a complaint in the rape case and also in the extortion case against the student and three other people.
In December, the Allahabad High Court granted the law student bail in the extortion case.
Earlier this year, Chinmayanand was released on bail from the high court which suggested a “quid pro quo” between the accused politician and the young woman and that they used each other.
In the February order, High Court Judge Rahul Chaturvedi had expressed amazement that a “girl whose virginity is at stake” did not tell her parents or any judicial body about the sexual exploitation to which she was subjected by the former politician.
Two days later, the former BJP leader was released from Shahjahanpur District Jail to receive a big welcome from his supporters.
In March, the Supreme Court refused to cancel the bail granted to him, stressing that “there is no need to interfere” with the Allahabad High Court order.
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