Former BJP Minister Swami Chinmayanand was granted bail by the Allahabad High Court in the alleged sexual exploitation case of a law student studying in his college in Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
Mr. Chinmayanand is accused of misusing his authority to seduce or induce the law student to have sexual intercourse with him, among other offences.
The law student who made the allegations against him was granted bail in December in connection with the extortion case against her by Mr. Chinmayanand. A Bench of Justice Rahul Chaturvedi granted bail to Mr. Chinmayanand on a personal bond and on furnishing “two heavy sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the court concerned”.
The court also directed that the trial of both the cases — sexual exploitation and extortion — be transferred from Shahjahanpur to a court in Lucknow.
“...the court concerned at Lucknow is directed to take both the cases on priority basis, if possible on day to day basis,” the court observed.
“The police chief of Lucknow is also directed to ensure the security and safety of the law student, her family members and witnesses during the entire trial period by deputing an officer to the rank of Senior Sub Inspector and armed constables,” the court said.
Commenting on the case, the court said, “At this stage it is very difficult to adjudicate as to who exploited whom? In fact, both of them used each other."
“... at this juncture, this court draws its conclusion that it was a complete matter of quid pro quo but over a span of time the greed for extracting “more”, she along with her accomplices seems to have advanced for hatching a conspiracy against the applicant [Mr. Chinmayanand] and tried to blackmail him for ransom, through the obscenic (sic) video clips recorded by herself,” the court order read.
‘Blurred changes’
The court also said that since the chargesheet in the case was already filed and the “magistrate has already taken cognizance of the offences” it had “blurred chances” of any tampering of evidence at this stage.
While granting bail to Mr. Chinmayanand, the court also observed that the law student was already granted bail so “there is no justifiable reason to deny the bail to the present applicant — Chinmayanand”.
